More than 200 people packed a gym at Baltimore Community High School on Wednesday evening to vent frustrations about a brutal attack by teenagers that sent a Dundalk man to the hospital last week.
Police say the 61-year-old man was attacked outside his home on 45th Street on April 22 as he tried to break up girls who were fighting on his truck.
Police charged a teenage girl last week with first-degree assault. Her name was not released because she was charged as a juvenile.
Police said Wednesday they had arrested a second teen. Antoine Willie Lawson, 17, of Baltimore was charged as an adult with first-degree and second-degree assault. He was being held without bail Wednesday at the Baltimore County Detention Center, police said.
Officials at Baltimore Community High School, an alternative city high school near the county line, acknowledged that students were involved in the altercation. Neighbors have complained about unruly students walking from the school to Maryland Transit Administration bus stops.
Wednesday's meeting was organized by the Harbor View Neighborhood Association. Melissa Allen, vice president of the association, said the injured man has been released from the hospital and is recovering.
Principal Leslie N. Lewis apologized for greeting neighbors under "unfortunate circumstances."
Residents took turns at a microphone detailing problems they blamed on students: trash in their yards, cars damaged, kids walking in the middle of the street, an incident in which rocks were thrown at a dog.
John Lewis, who lives on 45th Street, said students should not be allowed to walk to the bus stops unsupervised.
"Students are basically left to their own devices," he said.
Some suggested more police patrols at the school and having buses take students directly to the school would help.
At times, the meeting was tense. Lewis apologized for students' actions and explained steps the school would take — such as having more police at dismissal — but she was interrupted several times by yelling. School officials threatened to have people removed if they didn't calm down.
One man yelled to applause: "Close the building down! Move it out!"
The assault on the man remains under investigation. Cpl. John Wachter, a county police spokesman, said more arrests are expected.
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