The Regina Police Service (RPS) is investigating a parking lot fight caught on camera during lunch hour on Monday.
The video, posted to Facebook but deleted shortly after, shows what appears to be dozens of high school students circling a brawl between two people outside Burger King on Albert Street south.
Joseph Doell, a Grade 11 student at Campbell Collegiate, said fights like this happen “once or twice a school year.”
“It’s entertaining; people want to see it. It’s fun to watch,” said Doell, adding these fights often draw large crowds.
A group of students who witnessed the incident told Global News that Monday’s brawl was “planned months before.”
RPS confirmed that officers responded to a call about a public fight in the 4100 block of Albert Street around 12:40 p.m. Monday. But when officers arrived, the fight was over, according to police.
RPS has since obtained the video. Its school resource section is looking to identify the people involved.
Under the City of Regina‘s anti-bullying and public fighting bylaw, fighting in public places is prohibited.
While this particular fight may have been planned, consensual fights can still lead to criminal charges, according to police.
“If the actions of one go past a certain point, then that person may be charged with assault,” said Elizabeth Popowich, RPS spokesperson.
“If I give you an example: if two people are involved in a consensual fight and one of the persons punches the other, knocking them unconscious and then continues to hit the person, well, the person who is unconscious is no longer in a position to consent to what is happening.”
Police said the strip of restaurants on Albert Street South has been a common hangout for high school students in the area for years.
“It’s also not unusual for disagreements to start or for something that maybe started on social media to continue in person,” Popowich said.
“That’s been around for a long, long time.”
Global News spoke to a number of restaurants on the block. Many employees said they were not surprised by Monday’s fight.
One business owner claimed high school students will throw food and pour drinks on each other inside his restaurant. He said the bad behaviour makes other customers uncomfortable.
Burger King staff said they didn’t see or hear the fight while it was happening. They wouldn’t comment on customers’ behaviour, but they said the teens come in, eat their lunch, then leave.