Nearly 250 teenagers crowded an Illinois Raising Cane’s and nearby parking lots after local high school football games, with multiple fights bringing police into the crowd and leaving a parent facing a charge. Officers arrested two boys during the disturbance, including one accused of punching a girl. Another allegedly lunged at an officer before tripping over a bush. Police later identified the arrested teenagers as brothers.
The disturbance happened Friday, October 2nd, in Fairview Heights, where teenagers had gathered around businesses along Highway 159. The Raising Cane’s is located at 6565 North Illinois Street, in the city’s busy restaurant and shopping corridor. An officer was already monitoring the gathering when an employee reported trouble inside the restaurant. The response eventually drew additional officers from surrounding jurisdictions.
The employee told the officer that a fight had broken out inside Raising Cane’s. When the officer arrived moments later, he learned that two girls had been fighting and had already left. That call was followed by another confrontation nearby, sending the officer toward a larger fight closer to Taco Bell. Police said he entered the crowd to disperse the teenagers.
During that confrontation, the officer allegedly saw a juvenile boy punching a juvenile girl and arrested him. As First Alert 4 reported, officers arriving at the scene then heard two other teenage boys arguing. They ordered both boys to leave the property. One complied with the instruction, while the other refused to leave, according to the police account.
Police said the teenager who stayed then lunged at an officer with his fists positioned to fight. He tripped over a bush and fell before officers took him into custody. Authorities determined that he was the brother of the boy arrested during the earlier confrontation. Both brothers were from Belleville, according to the department’s announcement.
A third boy was also detained during the response, but police released him after determining that his involvement was minor. The arrested brothers were taken to the Fairview Heights Police Department for processing. A separate report by Kevin S. Held said they were subsequently released to a parent. Their cases will proceed through the juvenile court system, according to local reporting.
Watch the news report on the disturbance here:
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The consequences also reached the boys’ parent, who was charged with failure to supervise. Held’s report identified the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office as the office that brought the charge. The parent will have to appear in court. Police also announced that they were reviewing video from the disturbance and expected to issue additional juvenile charges.
The department warned that teenagers gathering and loitering around the businesses would be barred from the property and their vehicles towed. Its warning also extended to juveniles inside the businesses who were not purchasing anything, with police saying arrests and parental charges would follow. The department said signs had been posted and that video cameras and license plate readers were recording the area. In its statement quoted by local reporting, police declared: “MORE CHARGES AGAINST JUVENILES WILL BE ISSUED AFTER VIDEO IS FULLY REVIEWED. THIS WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.