Griffith High School Incident Summary

This report is a summary of a fight that occurred on 10/11/2016 between two

Griffith high school students, at the intersection of E Pine St & N Broad St.

Ofc Lanting approached the incident as witnesses were flagging him down and other citizens were calling 911. The listed complainant, Stephanie Stokes, was a witness to the fight.

On 10/11/2016 three Griffith High School students were suspended for a verbal altercation in class. The students are, Torrin Dillon, Tarves Arnold, and

Matthew Perez. All three subjects were using profanity, threats, and causing a disturbance that disrupted the normal daily class activities. The Griffith High

School resource officer, Peter Ghrist, and Ofc D Lazic #67 were at Griffith High

School standing by to maintain

It was discovered that the father of Matthew Perez, Richard Perez, had lost track of time and was unable to pick his son up from school. Matthew Perez began to walk home from Griffith High School after having been dismissed by school administration. Griffith Police cleared the High School around 1:30pm. All three student were given explicit and clear instructions by school administration, by police, and the athletic coach to avoid each other after school and to not continue this incident any further.

At approximately 2:45pm, Ofc Lanting was traveling south on N Broad St approaching the intersection at Pine St. Ofc Lanting observed several motorists flagging him down and pointing towards a group of juveniles at the northeast corner of this intersection. Ofc Lanting exited his patrol vehicle and observed

Dillon, Arnold, and Perez engaged in a verbal argument that turned into pushing and shoving. Once Arnold observed Ofc Lanting, he disengaged and went into the rear passenger seat of a black Cadillac, later discovered to be owned by

Dillon's step father, Terry Mack. Dillon and Perez continued to acting fight in

Ofc Lanting's presence. they raised both hands, made fists, and began to