Chattanooga Pulse

Written by Pulse Staff
Tuesday, 25 November 2008 19:56
• Remember when a schoolyard fight merely ended in detention? Not so anymore, as two Hixson High students ended up being arrested for their part in a fight, with one of them facing the business end of a Taser after he became aggressive towards the school-resource officer. The students had begun arguing the day before and continued their beef the next day to the point where the SRO was forced to intervene. The first student was charged with disorderly conduct and received a citation arrest, while second was charged with disorderly conduct and assault on an officer and was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center after learning first-hand that Tasers are no fun.

• Not to be outdone, a Howard Middle School student has racked up six criminal charges in just one day. Firefighters were called out to the school last week when a sprinkler head was activated in one of the school hallways. Students had to leave nearby classrooms while fire officials checked the building and maintenance crews cleaned up the standing water. Shortly thereafter, county deputies arrested a 14-year-old boy on charges of resisting arrest, vandalism over $500, disrupting a meeting or public assembly, disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment and making a false report (false alarm).

• But wait, there’s more school news this week, and a bit scarier at that. The fire alarm prankster at Howard Middle will likely see at least one familiar face at the Juvenile Detention Center as another student was arrested for bringing a gun to school. Acting on a tip, principal Paul Smith and the school resource officer confronted a 14-year-old student and discovered an unloaded .25 caliber handgun in his locker. He was immediately arrested and charged with carrying a weapon on school property. An investigation continues into how and where the student was able to acquire the weapon.

• Seriously, what in the world is going on in our schools these days? To complete our rather depressing trip around the school system, we find a report from earlier this month about a gun and knife incident at East Lake Academy. Principal Charles Joynes was alerted by several students that another student, who had been suspended the day before, was back on school grounds and was apparently armed. Working with the school resource officer, the student was apprehended, and it was discovered he was carrying an unloaded .22 caliber handgun and a knife. He was charged with two counts of carrying a weapon on school property and criminal trespass and, like all those before him in this report, transported to the seemingly well-populated Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center.