Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Father battles son's school expulsion

Officials call fight gang-related, say punishment of teen justified

CORRECTION -- 05/05/05 -- A story in Wednesday's Review-Journal gave an incorrect date for a melee involving students from Spring Valley High School that resulted in the expulsion of Chris Medina. The incident occurred Feb. 23.

Joseph Medina, right, is appealing son Chris' expulsion from Spring Valley High School for a fight that he contends saved another student but that school officials describe as gang activity. Photo by John Locher.

Word spread quickly through a grapevine of sophomores at Spring Valley High that there would be a fight between two students across the street after school.

Curious, 16-year-old Chris Medina and about 50 other students left campus to gather behind the Big 5 Sporting Goods store near Buffalo Drive and Flamingo Road. A brawl soon erupted involving two groups that school officials describe as gangs.

Medina, who joined in the fight to help a friend, is being expelled from school, with about 10 other students.

His father, Joseph Medina, is appealing the expulsion, maintaining his son is not a gang member but a hero. Some 280 classmates have signed a petition to bring Chris Medina back to school.

"My son risked his life to save the life of a student," said Joseph Medina, a real estate agent. "And this is how you're going to reward my kid? You're assuming that he's in a gang."

School officials said Chris Medina violated district regulations that prohibit students from causing physical injury and engaging in criminal gang activity.

The teen chose to participate in a bloody and chaotic gang fight, and the "anti-social" nature of his actions placed other students and staff in danger, Deann Burnett, dean of students, wrote in an incident report.

"The issue in this particular case is not whether a student is a member of a gang," said Edward Goldman, associate superintendent of Education Services Division, which handles disciplinary proceedings. "He had been in a fight after he went there for a fight."

Goldman said no crime exists in watching a fight. "But if your argument is you were trying to prevent a fight and you were a good citizen, then why didn't you call the police before the fight started?"

According to a Las Vegas police report of the Feb. 25 event, a member of a group called The Family had challenged 15-year-old Carlo Corado, a member of Sinful Boys, to a "one on one" behind the store.

Chris Medina said students thought The Family was not going to show up, and they began to leave. He, Corado and two other teenagers entered the nearby Dollar Tree Store to buy some potato chips.

According to police reports, a member of The Family, an unidentified teenager, opened the front door of the store and asked Corado, "Hey, are you Sinful Boys?"

Corado said he was.

The two went outside, and the other teenager whipped out a hammer, which had been concealed beneath his shirt. He struck Corado on the skull and back. Chris Medina then dropped his chips, ran out of the store and leaped onto Corado's assailant.

"I saw Carlo laying on the ground," Chris Medina said. "I did whatever I could to get the guy with the hammer. I knew the best thing I could do was to push Carlo inside the dollar store."

Chris Medina said he injured the other teen as he tried to stop him from swinging the hammer.

"I punched him in the face," he said. He was hit twice with the wooden side of the hammer.

"How do you expect my boy to take a hammer away from a killer?" his father asked.

Members of The Family, whom students described as a mostly Asian group of local high school students, had arrived in several vehicles and brought weapons.

Corado, who now attends an alternative school, said Chris Medina was a member of Sinful Boys, a loose-knit group of students who he said no longer have any name.

"Most of us are, like, break dancers," he said. "It's not a gang. All of the students know about it, and it's not a gang."

Chris Medina said he had hung out with some of the Sinful Boys for a while in September. The school district is "full of it" for assuming it was a gang, he said.

Unidentified students submitted statements about the incident to school officials, which the Review-Journal obtained.

After the teenager hit Corado on the head, "the other Asians pulled out bats, pipes, crowbars and other things to do mass destruction. ... There was blood everywhere," one student wrote.

Once Corado was safe in the dollar store, Chris Medina said he called police. When he pulled out his phone, the members of The Family began to leave.

An unidentified juvenile showed up at a University Medical Center clinic, where he received treatment for a scalp laceration and was diagnosed with a broken right hand from the fight, according to the police report.

Corado received five stitches, while Chris Medina had a swollen face. Both were listed as victims in the report. Another unidentified juvenile was arrested after the fight.

The next day, Chris Medina identified members of The Family to school officials, who told him that he was suspended and needed to go home for his own safety, Joseph Medina said.

"After the suspension, I expected to be welcomed back. I was at least expecting that from all the girls," Chris Medina said.

Principal Robert Gerye, who declined to comment on the incident, recommended his expulsion. The department director of pupil personnel services accepted the decision and recommended that Chris Medina attend Southwest Behavior High School.

Chris Medina and his mother, an antique vendor, took a tour of the school. When he saw a member of The Family inside, he said he didn't want to go. "They're putting my boy in the mouths of lions," Joseph Medina said.

Chris Medina, a self-described B and C student, continues to pick up his homework from Spring Valley.

He said most of the other students, including Corado, aren't fighting their expulsions: "They're attitude is just flow with it. The school's too big. You can't beat it."

About their parents, Chris Medina, who is Hispanic and a native Nevadan, said, "A lot of them don't speak English too well."

Said Corado, "My mom isn't really good at those things, and she's, like, worried. She's not really like a big fighter."

Las Vegas Detective Mike Craig investigated the fight and wrote a letter on Chris Medina's behalf on April 20 stating, "Nothing within the scope of my investigation indicated that Christopher is involved or associated with a gang at this time."

He was a victim who was injured when he tried to prevent injury to his friend, wrote Craig, who did not return calls from the Review-Journal.

Las Vegas police did not have The Family or Sinful Boys listed in their database of local gangs.

Last year, 395 confirmed gangs were in the Las Vegas Valley with approximately 10,000 members, the youngest of whom was 11 years old, Capt. Gary Schofield said.

Craig's letter on behalf of Chris Medina did not receive approval from the department, Schofield added.

"We don't send memos out to people saying their kids are or are not in gangs," he said.

Not all of the students involved in the fight were expelled, and the district will decide their discipline on a case-by-case basis, Goldman said. Gerye has recommended expulsion for about 10 other students.

Goldman said of Sinful Boys, "Obviously, you have a fight between two rival groups, so what difference does it make if they like to play music on the side?"