By Keighla Schmidt, Staff Writer 

A call from a concerned resident about a fight in a backyard being watched by 20 to 30 teenagers turned up a “fight club” that has apparently been organized by Eagle Ridge Junior High school students.

Police broke up a fight on May 14 in the 13400 block of Huntington Avenue. As it turns out, that’s not the first time the group had assembled. The boys, mostly students at Eagle Ridge Junior High School, formed Savage Fight Club. They were boxing in backyards, parks and garages all the while video taping the fights and posting them on the popular video Web site, YouTube.com.

“All I knew was kids were getting together and called themselves the Savage Fight Club,” said School Resource Officer Terry Gliniany. “They’re doing it for fun and it gives them something to do.”

After being tipped off by students that the videos were posted on YouTube, Gliniany and Capt. Dave Muelken viewed some of the videos.

“We watched some of the videos and were able to identify some of the students and the places they were fighting,” Muelken said. “After we identified a community park, it was a concern for us.”

One of the locations was Canterbury Park, 13444 Inglewood Ave., just blocks away from the junior high school. Students were also in yards where there were obstacles that could hurt them if they fell during a fight, Muelken said.

Gliniany said he was aware of the invite-only matches before breaking the fight up last week. Officers estimate the group has been meeting for at least a month. The oldest YouTube posts appear to be April 14 and most recent May 19.

Two students were transported by ambulance after police stopped the fight on May 14, but neither of them were seriously injured.

The case is being investigated, Muelken said, but the fighters and fight organizers could face criminal charges of disorderly conduct, unlawful assembly – including rioting. The misdemeanors charges would apply to both the people physically fighting as well as the ones assembled in the area.

 “Our first course of action is to try to effectively eliminate additional fights,” Muelken said. “I truly think they didn’t think they were doing anything criminally wrong. But just because you don’t think you’re doing anything wrong, doesn’t mean you’re not. Because there is a high risk someone will get hurt, we have to take action, if that means criminal action, to discourage more fights.

Muelken said the boys are not properly trained and could be seen wildly swinging their arms in the videos. They also neglected to protect their bodies by not wearing any sort of protective gear. In the videos, the boys can be seen wearing boxing gloves and wearing regular school clothes.

“Their kidneys are exposed, temples, groins,” he said. “One blow could seriously injure them or be fatal.”

Furthermore, Muelken said, the teenagers could get trained with supervision and available first aid if they want to learn how to box.

Gliniany said while he can’t say for 100 percent certainty that breaking up the fight last week eradicated other fight club assemblies, he hopes they have stopped them from meeting.

Anyone with more information on past fights, or if they see one in progress, is encouraged to call the Savage Police Department.

 Keighla Schmidt can be reached at kschmidt@swpub.com.