3 Hurt in Brawl at Jefferson High

Three Jefferson High School students suffered minor injuries Thursday in a lunchtime brawl involving more than 100 Latinos and blacks, authorities said.

The melee erupted in and around the cafeteria about 1 p.m. when a male Latino student threw something at two black females who were fighting.

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“I’m disappointed,” said Norm Morrow, principal of the East 41st Street school. “It tells me there are some deep-seated feelings out there that we’ve got to address.”

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Following the incident, the school’s 2,400 students were escorted to their classrooms and, after a brief lockdown, were released an hour early. Police Chief William J. Bratton went to the school to talk with officials and reporters about the incident.

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