FAST FACTS:
april.thompson@wreg.com
(Collierville, TN 10/30/2009) Parents shunned news cameras as they left Juvenile Court.
They had no comment about the fight video that has their kids facing charges.
16-year-old Jacob Severs says he was just watching and wants to know why he was charged, "I think it was unnecessary especially for people like me, just caught in it. I was just caught in the video."
But Friday, he and his parents were called to court.
"Grounded til he is 18. He's a good kid. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Jacob's parents.
Authorities say the organized fights, that are video taped and put on the internet, are against the law.
One kid's jaw was broken.
Sixteen year old Kramer Bates, who was there, says it was never a fight club.
"I've seen fights at Collierville before. But they are not scheduled or anything. They just have them." says Kramer.
"He was there. He was definitely there. He admits to it. They got him on video being there. But he was a spectator. He wasn't participating. He was just watching," says Mark Bates, Kramer's father.
Parents are upset that watching is now a crime.
"They got cage fighting on tv. They promote all this fighting. They got wrestling and everything. They got all this stuff promoted on tv. How these kids suppose to know?" says Rickey Pitre, whose son was charged in the fighting case.
"Everybody here participates in a fight, I mean watching a fight. Now it's a misdemeanor. That's where the problem is. You don't know. If we don't know, how do we inform our children on what they can and cannot do?" says Loraine Pitre, the mother of one of the charged teens.
Some of the kids admitted their guilt in the fighting.
Others are fighting the charges.
The judge has called everyone back to court next Friday to decide how to dispose of all of these cases.
We are told some of these kids could now have a record because of this.
They could face anything from probation, to community service or even juvenile detention.
- Kids in Collierville fight case appear in court
- Some kids admit to their involvement in video taped fighting, others fight the charges
- Parents say the rules on watching the fights are confusing
april.thompson@wreg.com
(Collierville, TN 10/30/2009) Parents shunned news cameras as they left Juvenile Court.
They had no comment about the fight video that has their kids facing charges.
16-year-old Jacob Severs says he was just watching and wants to know why he was charged, "I think it was unnecessary especially for people like me, just caught in it. I was just caught in the video."
But Friday, he and his parents were called to court.
"Grounded til he is 18. He's a good kid. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Jacob's parents.
Authorities say the organized fights, that are video taped and put on the internet, are against the law.
One kid's jaw was broken.
Sixteen year old Kramer Bates, who was there, says it was never a fight club.
"I've seen fights at Collierville before. But they are not scheduled or anything. They just have them." says Kramer.
"He was there. He was definitely there. He admits to it. They got him on video being there. But he was a spectator. He wasn't participating. He was just watching," says Mark Bates, Kramer's father.
Parents are upset that watching is now a crime.
"They got cage fighting on tv. They promote all this fighting. They got wrestling and everything. They got all this stuff promoted on tv. How these kids suppose to know?" says Rickey Pitre, whose son was charged in the fighting case.
"Everybody here participates in a fight, I mean watching a fight. Now it's a misdemeanor. That's where the problem is. You don't know. If we don't know, how do we inform our children on what they can and cannot do?" says Loraine Pitre, the mother of one of the charged teens.
Some of the kids admitted their guilt in the fighting.
Others are fighting the charges.
The judge has called everyone back to court next Friday to decide how to dispose of all of these cases.
We are told some of these kids could now have a record because of this.
They could face anything from probation, to community service or even juvenile detention.
