Father demands more after-school security after son beaten unconscious in Coconut Creek fight

Fights occur at every high school, and usually, they happen after dismissal and off campus.

That scenario played out one week ago just outside Coconut Creek High School, when four boys attacked another boy and beat him unconscious. The violence happened on the outside of the fence which separates the campus from the community.

“They punch him, knock him out cold, when he’s on the floor they start stomping on him,” said the victim’s father, Jorge Bedoya.

Brian Bedoya, a junior at the school, suffered a concussion and missed a week of classes. Coconut Creek Police say they’ve arrested the four boys who beat him up and charged them with misdemeanor battery.

“I am just very concerned, I want to take my son out of CCHS because all the individuals were arrested, thank God, but, what when he goes back to school? They’re in the same school,” Bedoya said.

He wants more security and police presence at high schools at dismissal.

“All the kids are there and I think security must be there, if there’s a gunman, he’s not gonna worry if he’s on the other side of the fence,” Bedoya said.

“So it’s a problem because students know they can start fighting when they go off campus, there’s not directly an SRO or teachers or principals there watching them,” said Lori Alhadeff, chair of the Broward County School Board.

She pointed out School Resource Officers can’t leave campus, and said police agencies don’t always have the resources to post large amounts of officers outside schools at dismissal. Alhadeff is hoping the Safekeepers program in Coral Springs can be expanded to other cities. It recruits  volunteers to stand watch outside schools, providing an adult presence to deter bad behavior.

“The Safekeepers program at Coral Glades High School has definitely helped prevent fights from happening off campus,” Alhadeff said.

The goal is to keep kids safe, and to prevent any other parents from experiencing what Jorge Bedoya has gone through.

“I mean, I was in tears, sir, and I don’t wanna get emotional now but it just breaks my heart, it’s very hard to watch, I love my son very much and it’s something that no parent should have to see on video,” Bedoya said.

Alhadeff said another way to decrease after-school violence is for students to say something when they hear or see something, because many of the after-school brawls are preplanned among students.