Five students suspended following altercation at Hilo High School

Hawai‘i Island Police were summoned to Hilo High School on Feb. 6 following reports of a potential altercation that was to take place on the school campus.

The police department did not name the school in its statement on the incident released Tuesday evening. However, Police Chief Ben Moszkowicz later confirmed the altercation’s location to Big Island Now.

Officers arrived at the high school during recess hours in order to provide presence and prevent any altercation from taking place.

At about 9:30 a.m., a verbal altercation took place while police and school staff were present. School staff and police noted that the altercation was quickly turning physical, and took action to stop the altercation from escalating, but during a potential brawl between two students, a police officer collided with a 51-year-old female administrator who was knocked to the ground while trying to separate the two students.

The administrator did not receive any injuries, was treated at the hospital as a precaution, and later released. The involved students were suspended from school.

In all, five students received suspension days in accordance with the Department of Education Chapter 19 Rules of Conduct.

The incident was captured on various cellular devices and posted to social media outlets, “quickly popularizing and overplaying the incident with police and the school administrator, indicating that she was injured and is in critical condition,” the Hawai‘i Police Department said in a statement. “This is completely false.”

Assistant Police Chief Kenneth Quiocho credited the school resource officer at the school for being there and in a position to get additional resources to quell the incident early on.

Quiocho said, “it was disappointing to see the social media posts. The posts take away from the seriousness of what is occurring in our schools, and it is hopeful that the public will look at the incident and not believe everything they see and read on social media without supporting facts. This incident was serious and it was more alarming that this kind of altercation takes place in our schools.”