Cool it, boy...
Posted on 09/20/2005 9:10:11 AM PDT by Rutles4Ever
It sounded like something out of a teen competition movie such as "Drumline" or "Bring it On."
But the brawl that broke out Saturday night at McAdams Park following a spontaneous "dance-off" wasn't a movie scene, and police and city officials on Monday were sorting through the aftermath that left one person hurt and two others -- a mother and a son -- facing criminal charges.
"This is a whole new arena" of crime, said Lt. Jeff Easter of the Wichita Police Department's gang and felony assault section.
The Dancing Steppers, a local drill team, was practicing routines at McAdams Park near 13th and I-135 on Saturday night when members of another drill team, the White Tigers, showed up and challenged the others to what was described as a "dance-off," police said.
When it became clear the challengers were losing, Easter said, a 28-year-old woman struck a 17-year-old drummer with the Dynamic Steppers in the face with a drum stick. The teen, who had left the White Tigers recently to join the Dynamic Steppers, retaliated by punching her in the face. He then ran toward his Ford Explorer and tried to run over spectators with it, witnesses told police.
The boy's mother, who served as a coach of the Dynamic Steppers, grabbed a box cutter and sliced the other woman's right arm, Easter said. The wound required eight stitches.
An estimated 50 people were involved in the altercation, although only two people were facing charges on Monday.
The mother was booked on suspicion of aggravated battery for cutting the other woman, Easter said, and the son faces charges of simple assault and aggravated assault.
Police said additional charges are possible.
Larry Foos, director of parks and recreation for the city, said a park employee told him the Dynamic Steppers had been practicing earlier in the day not far from Barry Sanders Field, but their whistles were confusing players in a youth league football game under way on the field.
The drill team was asked to move to another part of the park so their whistles would not interfere with the football game, Foos said.
"There was no conflict at all from that," he said. "They understood completely."
The brawl won't lead to changes in access or activities at the park, Foos said. To do that, he said, would be "an over-reaction" to Saturday's fight.
"I just believe this is one of those crazy, isolated incidents that happen once in a while," Foos said. "Thankfully, these incidents are rare."
Police may be asked to step up patrols at the park after ball games, he said, to discourage confrontations.
You got served a PING
Here is where a PICTURE would have been worth a 1000 words!
Yeah, where is the picture?
Cool it, boy...
So damn much violence in Wichita. Must be something wrong there. Of course as long as I live I will associate that city with the horrific carjacking/rape/murder spree that occurred there in Dec 2000.
Kansas needs to outlaw dancing.
Damn...you beat me to it...
Dance Fights! Just like West Side Story!
LOL! Cue insane bongo music. Man those two gangs were so gay.
Kudos to you for finding that pic so quick!
When it became clear the challengers were losing, Easter said, a 28-year-old woman struck a 17-year-old drummer with the Dynamic Steppers in the face with a drum stick. The teen, who had left the White Tigers recently to join the Dynamic Steppers, retaliated by punching her in the face. He then ran toward his Ford Explorer and tried to run over spectators with it, witnesses told police.
The boy's mother, who served as a coach of the Dynamic Steppers, grabbed a box cutter and sliced the other woman's right arm, Easter said. The wound required eight stitches.
I would pay at least $10 to watch a video of this.
regretably it has moved way beyond "you got served"
unfortunately "it's on "
Hehe. Cue "Butters" with a sawn-off tapshoe ...
Insert REQUISITE 'Zoolander' picture (Here).
Good thing it didn't involve Michael Jackson and the dancing Zombies (Thriller)
I was going to say, this isn't how it's supposed to happen, but then I read further. Of course you're going to have a problem when a drill team is served by (or serves) a step team. What'd you expect the lions to lay with the lambs? It's just what's going to happen and these two need to be segregated from one another.
Now, you get a step team serving a step team or drill serves drill, and that's a good thing. You can solve problems, get out your agressions, or even raise money to save the youth center from the greedy developers.
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
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