MIDDLETOWN – Top officials from the cities of Middletown and Newburgh and the city school districts met Tuesday to discuss the problems that occurred at Middletown High School Friday night when an over-capacity crowd showed up to watch a varsity basketball game between the rival teams.
At Tuesday night’s Middletown Common Council meeting, Police Chief John Ewanciw provided lengthy details of the incidents.
He said the situations were the result of disrespect by young people who pushed and refused to leave when instructed to do so and spewed vulgar language. “We need to refocus on the kids. They need to be taught respect, dealing with conflict, addressing their concerns in a more diplomatic way and they have to know consequences,” he said. “We can talk about logistics and changing the way we do business. We can add more door locks; we can change avenues of entrance and exit. It doesn’t change behavior. If their intention is to have bad behavior, it doesn’t matter what other mechanisms we put in place.
The first incident involved some 50 people, who were asked to leave the building, crowded into the vestibule at the main entrance. The police were eventually able to clear the area.
A second incident occurred after the game when Ewanciw said several fights broke out in the parking lot. They lasted some 25 minutes.
State and Town of Wallkill Police officers were called in to assist with the estimated 100 people fighting in the parking lot, Ewanciw said.
After the third quarter of the game, the chief said a fire alarm went off resulting in the complete evacuation of the estimated 1,000 people in the building. The alarm turned out to have been sounded by steam in a locker room.
At Tuesday night’s Middletown Common Council session, Newburgh-Highland Falls NAACP President Ray Harvey implored school and city officials to work together to come to a solution. “I’m not blaming nobody. We have to work as grownups to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Juanita King, the mother of a girl at the game, was visibly upset with the events of the evening. “I don’t want to bury a child,” she told the common council.
“We didn’t come to talk about the problem; we came to talk about a solution,” said Newburgh City Councilman Omari Shakur, who also attended the Middletown council meeting.
Middletown Alderman Paul Johnson said the police are the authority and if there are problems, people involved must do what they are told.
At the end of the evening Friday, three young people taken into custody and released to their parents, said Ewanciw.
“There needs to be consequences to the student who were fighting,” said Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano.
Social media posts and videos added to the problems of the evening, he said.
