The school’s liaison officer “was physically restraining a juvenile who was trying to actively fight,” Dresser said. “The officer was having a difficult time calling for assistance over the radio, but due to the sounds of an officer in distress, there was a large law enforcement response to the high school,” including Dane County sheriff’s deputies.

After the second fight, two parents and a handful of other family members showed up at the school, Dresser said. Gorrell said the parents knew about the fights because the school had called them to tell them to pick up their children, who were being suspended.

The group of adults was “yelling, threatening staff and creating a disturbance,” Dresser said, during which the school’s liaison officer was kicked by a student.

“Officers stood by until the group of adults left the building,” he said, and none was issued a citation or arrested.

The third student fight broke out at 2:45 p.m., again in the commons area, police said, with a girl taken to the hospital because she had a medical emergency while trying to break up the fight.

A school staff member and a boy also sought medical attention after being battered in one of the fights.