Newark

Brawl Breaks Out at Newark Pizza Place Over Missing Cellphone That Was Actually in Lost and Found: Police

A squabble over a supposedly missing cellphone broke out into an all-out brawl at a pizza place in Newark Saturday night before it was discovered that the phone had actually been turned in to the restaurant's lost and found hours earlier, according to police.

The fight involving two large groups erupted at John's Incredible Pizza Company inside the NewPark Mall, according to police. Footage from the scene captured people exchanging blows and shouting.

When Newark police officers arrived, they called in reinforcements from the Fremont Police Department due to the size of the scuffle.

Officers were eventually able to gain control of the chaos, according to police. Only minor injuries were reported, and no one was arrested.

As officers worked on their investigation, the manager of the restaurant came up with the cellphone, according to police. The phone had been turned into lost and found several hours before the brawl.

The mother of the girl who lost the phone said her family was attacked simply for asking a group if they saw the girl's phone.

"Next thing you know, there's just a massive brawl and people throwing fists, and it was quite crazy," restaurant worker Drake Lynn said.

He said he saw two young women arguing about a phone, and then it got physical.

"Their boyfriends, or males who they were with, backed them up, and then they started throwing punches, and then their friends started throwing punches, and they started throwing punches at other parties that were there," Lynn said.

The Find My iPhone app led the girl to that location, but the phone actually was a floor above them in a lost and found.

"We would have definitely found the cellphone, if they would have just given us a little bit of time and let us do our jobs instead of throwing punches," Lynn said.

NBC Bay Area's Thom Jensen contributed to this report.

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