Greater Sudbury Police broke up a brawl involving dozens of teenagers in Hanmer on Wednesday night that left a mother feeling helpless.
The woman, who preferred not to be named, said she called 9-1-1 when she saw "nearly 100 teenagers fist fighting, smashing up a car and driving like maniacs up and down Cote Boulevard."
"My problem with that night is (I) felt helpless," the woman told Sudbury.com. "(The) police took forever and when they got there, they let most kids get away."
The woman said it took police at least an hour to respond and when they arrived "they flashed the lights, drove past the scene and up to Michel Street and turned real slow ... gave the kids enough time to pile into cars and take off."
Greater Sudbury Police Services confirmed to Sudbury.com that a call regarding a disturbance on Cote Boulevard in Hanmer came into the police switchboard around 11:35 p.m. on July 25.
The caller stated that 10 teenagers were involved in an altercation on the roadway, GSPS spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn said. Minutes later, a second caller reported approximately 50 teens were involved and that the window of a vehicle had been smashed.
Although the concerned mother said it seemed like it took officers a long time to arrive on the scene and they didn't do much when they arrived, Dunn said police records of the event are slightly different.
Dunn said the police report shows a cruiser arriving on scene at 11:55 p.m. and a second cruiser arrived five minutes later at 12:00 a.m. When police arrived they found about 25 people in the street.
"Officers spoke with the individuals who were on scene," Dunn said. "Everyone was very cooperative and there was no criminal complaint made by anyone on scene."
Officers spoke with those involved and cleared the scene at 12:25 a.m. Police did find a smashed car window, but couldn't determine the cause. No weapons were located either, Dunn said.
A video clip taken during the fight surfaced on Facebook on Thursday, but has since been removed. Sudbury.com screen-captured the video above. In it, you can see several people throwing punches and yelling in the street.
*YouTube got back to us really quickly regarding this video being flagged for review on Sudbury.com's YouTube channel. It's back up but has been put behind an age restriction.
