Briefly... CITY/REGION

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Briefly... CITY/REGION PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS

Teen brawlers face charges

Riot and disorderly conduct charges were filed yesterday against 19 youths who police say were involved in a large brawl on Chestnut Street near Broad in Center City on Tuesday.

The defendants include a 14-year-old boy who also was charged with aggravated assault for elbowing a police officer in the face. Many of those involved were high-school students, police said. The chaotic scene drew comparisons to a flash mob of 150 teens who ran wild in Center City on Feb. 16.

Students tackle bullying issue

Philadelphia student-government leaders said last night at a Drexel University symposium on preventing bullying that the group expects to make recommendations to Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman in a matter of weeks for a student-designed campaign to stem violence in city schools. Sharifa Garvey, chair of the City-Wide Student Government's anti-violence committee, said Ackerman had allotted student leaders $50,000 for the anti-violence campaign.

W. Phila. shooting injures 2

Two men were injured in a double shooting last night in West Philadelphia. Police said shots rang out on 40th Street near Baring about 7:30 p.m. A 51-year-old man was shot once in the left side and a man in his 20s was shot once in the hip. Both were admitted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the elder in critical condition and the younger in stable condition, police said. Investigators knew of no suspects or motives.

Fundraiser for Haiti

The Haitian Law Enforcement Association invites the public to join the Philadelphia Police Department and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 in a fundraiser tonight to support the people of earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The event will be tonight at FOP headquarters, 1336 Spring Garden St. Tickets are $25 per person and include food, draft beer, music and dancing. Raffle and 50/50 tickets will be sold, and there will be a Chinese Auction.

He taped teen girls, cops say

Robert E. Hunt, of Norristown, has been arrested in connection with videotaping young females at the Plymouth Meeting Mall for sexual gratification, the District Attorney's Office announced this week. Hunt, arraigned Wednesday, was charged with 25 counts of sexual abuse of children and one count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. The D.A.'s office said police caught Hunt taping girls and seized his camera at the mall on Sept. 19.

He faces trial in strangulation

William Brown, 19, of Upper Darby, charged with strangling his cell mate with a bed sheet in a western Pennsylvania prison, was ordered held for trial on murder charges yesterday by a district judge in Clymer, Indiana County. State police said Brown tied a bedsheet around the neck of Jayson Stewart, 29, of Arnold, Pa., during a fight in their cell. Guards found Stewart dead about 3 a.m. Sunday.

25G bail for hair implant

Police say a cook put body hair in the sandwich of an Evesham police officer who had given him traffic tickets. Ryan Burke was arrested Feb. 21 in the kitchen of Good Foods to Go in Evesham. Burke, 26, had just served a bagel sandwich to an officer who had ticketed him last March. Burke, who was fired from his job, spent four hours in jail before his wife posted bail, which had been set at $25,000.

-Staff and wire reports