Posted on January 24, 2013

Brawl Erupts at East St. Louis Food Stamp Office

CBS Chicago, January 24, 2013

A dispute over a spot in line at a food stamp office downstate escalated into a full-fledged brawl.

The fight on Tuesday was captured on video and shows at least four women wrestling and punching each other.

At one point, the video shows two women grabbing each other while a third punches one of them on the back of the head. At another point, a woman walks across the office and punches another person in the face.

Security officers struggled to end the chaos. It took them several minutes to separate the group and restore order. {snip}

The incident happened at the Illinois Department of Human Services office in East St. Louis, reportedly only a few blocks from the police station there.

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East St. Louis Mayor, Alvin Parks, called for metal detectors at the office at 9th and Missouri, KTVI reported.