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Six people arrested in Calif. high school lunchtime fight

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Lunchtime fights at a Central California high school Wednesday ended with police swarming onto campus, school closed and six students under arrest, authorities said.

No major injuries were reported, however.

The trouble began when two girls began fighting at Righetti High School and two boys got into a second fight, said Kenny Klein, spokesman for the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District.

During the fight, food was thrown.

Police, Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies, county firefighters and California Highway Patrol officers were called about 12:30 p.m. after a deputy who was serving as campus security called for backup after having food thrown at him while trying to stop a fight, authorities said.

A helicopter also was sent to the school.

"As you were walking to class, you saw cops in bulletproof vests. So that was kind of shocking," said student Zach Burg, 17.

A video on the website of the Santa Maria Times appeared to show a deputy striking a girl during a struggle with a group of girls. A photo showed a deputy, his back smeared with cheese sauce, kneeling over a boy on the ground.

A sheriff's statement said that after the girl had resisted the deputy, her friends surrounded him and pushed and hit him.

"In the process of defending himself, he shoved the females away and one of the suspects was knocked to the ground," the statement said.

Four boys and two girls were arrested and booked on suspicion of various charges including resisting arrest and assault on a school employee, the statement said.

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