An East Bay 13-year-old is recovering in a hospital after a hazing incident at the hands of his schoolmates and stores in the area have been asked to limit sales of a certain item used in the prank.
Seniors at Albany High in Alameda County participate in a long-standing ritual known as "Freshman Fridays," when they drive by freshmen walking home and pelt them with eggs on the Fridays leading up to Homecoming. Students say it's a harmless tradition but administrators say this time, the prank went too far.
On Friday night, police responded to five incidents. The most serious involved a 13-year-old boy who ended up with a skull fracture after eggers stopped throwing eggs and started throwing punches. Police said the boy was punched in the forehead and at least two girls were punched in the back.
Police arrested a 17-year-old believed to be responsible and he now faces felony battery charges. The school principal, Ted Barone, says the students involved will be suspended or expelled.
Barone asked a Safeway and CVS in the area to limit the sales of eggs in the wake of the incident. Our friends at Albany Patch tell us Barone said the stores agreed to cooperate and agreed to not sell eggs to teens "for the time being." The CVS manager reportedly agreed to limit sales of eggs to teens to just one carton.
But a Safeway spokeswoman said the store cannot limit sales of eggs based on who might be buying them.
"As much as we sympathize with the situation, we can't decide who to sell eggs to without following a law," Susan Houghton said. "We can't just randomly make a decision we're not going to sell eggs to you because you might be a teenager going to that high school."
Barone sent a memo home to parents after the incident and after contacting the grocery stores. He also suggested parents contact the CVS and Safeway stores in the area if they feel more should be done to limit the egg sales.
Photo from Surat Lozowick via Flickr
