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Alta Vista student causes lockdown
Office confrontation leads to police chase, brief lockdown at two high schools

by Casey Weiss

A potentially dangerous situation was averted Monday when an enraged high school student shoved his mother, struck a police officer and ran onto the Mountain View High School campus, hiding in a classroom and causing a brief lockdown before he was captured.

Mountain View and Alta Vista high schools went into "code red lockdown" on May 11 after a student attacked a police officer during a meeting at Alta Vista High and then fled to nearby Mountain View High, police and school administrators said.

The lockdown lasted five minutes while police looked for the 15-year-old male student, who they said was violent. They located him quickly and arrested him on charges of resisting arrest, battery of a police officer and being a minor in possession of alcohol, according to police spokesperson Liz Wylie.

Police said the Alta Vista student, who had just started attending the continuation school, was caught with alcohol in the classroom that day. He was taken to the principal's office, and turned violent when administrators called police and his mother to the campus, Wylie said.

"The juvenile got upset with his mom and the police being there," Wylie said. "He got up and started yelling at the police officer."

The suspect's mother tried to restrain him, but he "pushed his mother out of the way and shoved the police officer," Wylie said.

The officer chased the student onto the Mountain View High School campus, where the suspect hid in a classroom. The officer could not find him and called for backup.

The student, whose name is being withheld, never had a weapon, but police were worried he was violent and ordered a "code red lockdown" of both schools while they searched for him. Under the lockdown, all students and faculty were kept in their classrooms with the doors locked until it was lifted.

The lockdown ended at about 10:51 a.m., Wylie said, when the suspect ran out of the classroom and onto the football field. Policed arrested him there without incident, and he was booked into juvenile hall.

Mountain View High School administrators kept students and parents updated about the lockdown on the school's Web site. After police arrested the suspect, administrators said they were pleased with how well students had handled the lockdown.

"Mountain View High School performed so well in the code red lockdown May 11, the May 19 drill has been canceled," administrators wrote in an update.

E-mail Casey Weiss at cweiss@mv-voice.com

Posted by you mama, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on May 16, 2009 at 9:04 pm

hahah that was so funny to watch

Posted by Old Ben, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on May 17, 2009 at 4:17 pm

It's a good thing he was only 15 years old. If he was 18, they might have had to call in troops.