Larkin student charged in cafeteria fight

A Larkin High School junior has been charged in connection with a February lunchtime fight that occurred inside the school's cafeteria and injured a staff member.

Giovanni Hernandez, 18, of the 300 block of Jewett Street, was charged with felony aggravated battery as well as simple battery, a misdemeanor.

Elgin police said that at 11 a.m. Feb. 23, Hernandez went up to a teenage boy seated in the cafeteria, talked to him and then began punching him.

A female dean's assistant moved to separate the two who were wrestling by that point, but Hernandez pushed her away, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head, police said.

The teenagers fell on top of her as they continued fighting, and as the staffer tried to regain her footing, both of them fell on her again, pinning her to the table.

The staffer sustained a tear to her left earlobe that required five stitches, as well as severe bruising on her left cheek and hip, Deputy Chief Cecil Smith said.

Police don't know what the teens were fighting about, he said.

Kane County Judge Bruce W. Lester set Hernandez's bond at $10,000, with a court date Thursday at the Kane County Judicial Center.

Hernandez was unable to post bond and remains in the Kane County lockup.

Elgin Area School District U-46 spokesman Tony Sanders, declined to comment on Hernandez's case, citing student privacy laws.

But in general, he said, assaulting a staff member is grounds for suspension or expulsion.

If found guilty of the more serious charge, Hernandez could spend up to five years in prison.