Back Yard Brawls Not Illegal

Saturday, October 21, 2006 04:01 AM

A Prince George RCMP officer says it wouldn’t surprise him that back yard fight clubs exist in the city. He is referring to the latest buzz in the community which says young people are engaging in pre-aranged backyard brawls.

These are NOT fights organized by the fight club in the city of Prince George that has been operating on a professional basis. That group has sponsored a number of fight events at venues like the CN Centre. This group of fighters trains in the city, but does so under the supervision of professionals who watch for their safety. This martial arts type of fighting, for which training is available in the city, is more like a boxing club but the only difference is that it is martial arts.

These are pre-arranged battles between high-school kids.

"Weekend back yard fights by young people is a totally different matter" says one RCMP officer. He adds, "Remember, it is not against the law for two people to have a consensual fight. If they are 12 years or older, and as long as they have consented to that fight, they can,” fly at it”. " But there are limits says the officer "The only restriction comes when say the kid hits the ground and says ,” I have had enough “ and the other kid keeps kicking him, that’s where they cross the line. "

The recent movie, ‘The Fight Club” starring Brad Pit has made this sort of conduct more in vogue.

One Police officer says "It is no secret there has always been a rivalry between many of the Prince George schools, and Kelly Road has a reputation of being the “toughest School around”. " He says this leads to school gangs taking on each other "The fact that these fights are taking place in people’s back yards doesn’t surprise me at all. Boys will be boys and that is the nuts and bolts of it."

Reports have indicated that fight participants are asked to sign a consent form before taking part in a fighti. As long as the fights are consentual, there's no problem, but there may be a problem with bets. Repoorts indicate some spectators are placing bets on who will win, and that is clearly illegal.

Another Prince George RCMP member, Constable Gary Godwin, says there was a problem with backyard fights about four years ago, but the activity died off when winter arrived, and nothing got underway again in the following spring. Godwin says Police don't normally hear about this kind of activity unless someone is seriously hurt.

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Posted on Saturday, October 21, 2006 04:01 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: acrider54 on October 21 2006 6:25 AM

Typical. Too many violent movies and games now a days. Maybe the kids will wkae up when someone is seriously injured, but I doubt that because most kids today have no "feeling" either way. "I'm cool! look at my black eyes and fat lip" LOL

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on October 21 2006 7:27 AM

Nothing new. We used to have someone (boys or girls) fighting every school day from grade one to grade 10, then it seemed to go away. Do kids still fight in school?

Posted by: Harbinger on October 21 2006 8:03 AM

Of course the government is gonna look at these fights in a jaundiced light. They are probably irked cause they cannot bring in TAX revenue with these fights. We just have to wait for these children to grow up and move away. That's all.

Posted by: editor on October 21 2006 9:54 AM

Please note,
"Wrinkledawg's" comment was removed because of offensive language

-Elaine Macdonald

Posted by: owl on October 21 2006 10:11 AM

"Reports have indicated that fight participants are asked to sign a consent form before taking part in a fight"

I would think they are all under the age of consent (19), thus the forms are useless for any legal purpose they may be intended for.

Even for those who are older, consent form are really useless as far as the law goes if there is damage as a result of negligence.

All it will take is for someone to get hurt sufficiently to have to go to the hospital in an ambulance or die. In that case, every single person involved should be arrested and held liable for damages or manslaughter.

I can't believe what I am reading on here. I am afraid I never witnessed a fight in a school yard in any school I ever attended. Perhaps different times. Perhaps different part of town.

Posted by: Death to Socialism on October 21 2006 12:06 PM

Just thinning the herd........

Posted by: Palopu on October 21 2006 12:16 PM

When I went to school their were fights all the time. There were some pretty tough cookies around at that time. Some of these fights would last a long time. It was usually between a (*Hot Shot*) who thought he was tough, and a hard working farm boy who was. Once it was determined who was who, the fights dropped off and people went on to other things. (Gang fights are different)

Posted by: kitkat on October 21 2006 1:27 PM

Kids will be kids. They are invincible. Hopefully no one dies, but its going to happen no matter what the police do. For them to try to stop it is foolhardy. Thinning the herd, pecking order, whatever, kids will be kids!

Posted by: steeliepete on October 21 2006 1:31 PM

I have to admit that the "thinning the herd" comment made me laugh. I think there may be some evolution in play here. In many cultures or geographic areas, a few hundred or a thousand years ago, young men had to fight to prove their positions in their village/community. I suspect that this a "survival of the fittest" response that will take further social adaptation in the future to dissipate or change. Perhaps it's instinct?
A more simple explaination may be that their parents are morons and that they value the same and pass it on to their kids. For example, I know a guy who taugh his kid to be the tough guy and now that kid is an outcast and isn't doing well in school cause he's always in trouble. Great parenting strategy, eh?

Posted by: owl on October 21 2006 4:00 PM

"A more simple explaination may be that their parents are morons and that they value the same and pass it on to their kids."

I think you are quite right Steelie.

If these kids want to fight, then at least put them into a ring for "sports" fighting under proper supervision.

Going by the posts here, it would appear that if the RCMP were to show up at the door with one of the poster's kid and ask the parent to take some responsibility, the parent would pooh pooh the whole episode once the door is shut.

This is all about violence. It is all about being macho. Of course, these days females are involved as well often enough.

http://forum.canadianparents.ca/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=450305&Main=449974

from that site, the top post when I was there:

"DD came home from school today telling me about a fight at school. Apparently a grade 9 was mouthing off and trash talking a grade 12, the grade 12 eventually punched him in the face and the grade 9 went down. Then a whole group of people swarmed the kid, kicking him repeated and in the face, with grade 12 girls stomping his head into the ground. My DD and her two friends were flabberghasted about what to do. One of them had run to get the guidance counsellor but DD and the other friend didn't want to step in and get beat up themselves, and the other friend is a big fella. I told her they made the right decision; she can't put herself in danger, instead get a teacher.

I guess when these kids had "had enough" they wandered off, one of them was still there trying to get the kid to lick his shoe, and DD's friend (a big footballer) grabbed him and tossed him aside. Then DD pulled the injured kid up and led him back to the school. She said he was barely moving.

Apparently he's in the hospital with a broken arm among other injuries. I can't believe how sickened I feel. Apparently some of these kids were videoing the attack and it's supposedly already on the net. "
----------------------

The RCMP is involved with anti-bullying programs in schools accross Canada I understand. I realize these fights may not be viewed as bullying, but both the looser and the winner of the fights may end up bringing their feelings into school and act out in bullying fashion against others.

----------------------------
I always like to explore limits. Based on this report from the RCMP, it seems that if someone is over the age of 12, they could consent to a duel with firearms on private property. If not, where is the limit?

Posted by: Palopu on October 21 2006 4:58 PM

Thats the difference between then and now. In the (Old Days) you would never have a situation where a group of kids punched and kicked an individual. Even in the fighting it was understood that you didnt kick a person when they were down. You didnt hit below the belt, and when an individual had enough (Gave Up) you let him go. That was the limit.

People fight and swarm people to-day out of fear, and out of bad manners (Never being taught right from wrong at home) and not having the sense to understand the pain they inflict on people. Mesmerized by totally stupid TV Programs, Movies, and Books.

Posted by: Chadermando on October 21 2006 8:27 PM

Fights were common when I went to school. Back then PGSS was the toughest, but Kelly Road always swarmed by surprise at pit parties. Every weekend there were two or three pit parties usually in the general area of one of the high schools and it often ended in 'school' based fights. There was an unofficial rating system going on back then and sometimes fights were arranged a week ahead of time for willing combatants. A thing that probably evolved out of the need to get the Hart boys to fight one on one.

A good buddy of mine used to have boxing fights in his basement every weekend with people from all the schools coming over and no one ever got seriously hurt. His mom would be watching TV up stairs with a couple dozen teenagers drinking and boxing in the basement. She figured better there than somewhere else and her kids turned out to be good citizens.

Posted by: owl on October 22 2006 12:34 AM

A segement of society I never saw in my high school of 1,200 students or so back east, nor my kid at DP Todd.

I guess we are more than a gritty mill town. The Battle of the Enforcers fiasco should have given me a hint.

From the linked site:
"Some fans said event was a perfect fit for the hockey-mad northern B.C. town, where street brawls are commonplace on a Saturday night, "As soon as there's blood, this crowd will go nuts," said Taki Papadopoulous, 21, a student at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Besides, he added, there's not much else to do on a Saturday night in Prince George."

http://mirtle.blogspot.com/2005/08/hockey-enforcers-spill-blood-in-pg.html

Then we must not forget about the accolades given to the quality of the hookers in PG by one of the Dreamcatcher cast members.

What more can we do to give prospective residents the lifestyle they have always been looking for?

Posted by: kitkat on October 22 2006 2:39 AM

This town is evolving from 'a gritty mill town' in a hurry, and has been for quite a while.
We have two pools, two hockey teams, a variety of arts related venues, many beautiful parks, fishing galore, fine eateries, an active night life and, well, I could go on.
It's too bad people have to pick our past apart.
The forest industry has built this town, it is part of our history.
Since we're a bunch of rednecks let's accept our past, and then continue to show the world that we're proud of our past and move forward.
These kids are doing something stupid, but I don't feel it will be stopped by anything that you, I, or the cops can do.

Posted by: Palopu on October 23 2006 9:12 PM

You can see how bad new stories and press releases can have a bad effect on the reputation of a City. Prince George has been boasting for years that it is a Hockey Town, even though the best they can do on a given night these days is drum up 3500 fans for a game. (Less than 5% of the population) A truer statement in the papers etc; would be (**73,500 Prince George residents do not attend hockey games**) Whats the chance of ever seeing a headline like that? So we get the garbage like **hockey-mad Northern BC Town**

Such is life.