Teens Fight at Greene Playground Next to P.S. 11

Update May 22, 4:50 p.m. – Three teenaged girls were arrested after cops broke up a brawl on Monday involving dozens of youngsters at a playground next to P.S. 11 on Greene Avenue, police reported today. No serious injuries were reported in the melee at Greene Playground on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington Avenues.

A brawl involving as many as 60 teenagers — mostly girls with a few boys — raged in the afternoon of May 20 in and around a playground next to P.S. 11 on Greene Avenue, witnesses said.

The melee at Greene Playground, on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington Avenues, broke out between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., according to witnesses.

An 88th Precinct community affairs officer said “a few” arrests were made, but he does not know the exact number, or if they were connected with the teens’ fight. He said he does not yet know any other information about the fight.

The incident brought four or five police cruisers to the scene, and a helicopter hovered overhead as cops tried to restore order, said Sang Park, an employee at New Hong Cheung Chinese Restaurant on Greene Avenue.

A P.S. 11 faculty member, who did not want her name used, said she thought the fight involved students from M.S. 113, on nearby Adelphi Street, and Fort Greene Preparatory Academy on Clermont Avenue.

Monica Prcett, 17, said he had just gotten to the playground as police attempted to break up the fight. He said he saw girls running up and down the block, pulling each other’s hair. Prcett said he did not know the cause of the fight.

Stacey Marques, a mother with two kids at P.S. 11, one in kindergarten and the other in fifth grade, said she did not see the fight, but was shocked to hear the news.

“I think it’s outrageous,” said Marques.  “I’m a mother of two children. I’d like to know if it’s a random thing, targeting a stranger. It makes me concerned about the safety of children at schools.”

Allie Fordham, 7, said she was in the park with her afterschool program, Bija Kids, when the fight broke out. She said it was the first time she had seen “big kids” in the children’s playground.

Her mother, Jennifer Fordham, said she hadn’t heard of fights like this happening at the playground before, and she’s not concerned about teen violence in this community any more than other neighborhoods.

“I think it would happen anywhere where there are kids hanging out,” Fordham said. “It could happen in the burbs, too.”

The park is owned by the city and is not formally associated with P.S. 11. But it is popular with students from the school, which serves kindergarten through fifth grade, and is used by kids enrolled in afterschool programs, neighborhood residents said.