Video shows coach refereeing fight at New York middle school

FAR ROCKAWAY, New York -- An employee at an after-school program in Queens was fired after a shocking fight club video surfaced online.

The video shows a brawl between two students at a middle school that the coach apparently did nothing to stop.

Marcus Cruz is seen looking more like a referee than a grown up in charge of the boys' well-being, and now, the father of one of the boys is demanding answers.

"Because at the end of the day, this could be your child that's in that program," dad Kevin Jones said. "That has to deal with these people that are not there for their safety."

Jones says his 12-year-old son Keshon was actually encouraged by Cruz to resolve his differences with a classmate at MS 53 in Far Rockaway with physical violence, and another student was allowed to record it. The incident happened on January 14.

"He tells me that the coach said 'Let them fight,'" Jones said.

The program is called the Sports and Arts in Schools Foundation, or SASF, whose mission is "engaging students minds and bodies."

The Department of Education is disengaging itself from Cruz, stating "Cruz was not a DOE employee, and he was swiftly removed from his position at an after-school program at the school."

Meanwhile, one student familiar with Cruz says he seemed to have good intentions, just a bad method.

"I think he was trying to let them do what they had to do," said Julisa, who didn't want her last name used.

The commissioner of investigations for the school is now looking into the incident.