CHICORA — A student-inmate at a northern Butler County juvenile detention center will stand trial on charges he beat an employee during a melee last month.

District Judge Lewis Stoughton at a preliminary hearing Tuesday ordered Quameere Fisher, 19, of Philadelphia held for court on felony charges of aggravated assault and riot and a misdemeanor charge of simple assault.

Samuel R. Withers, a staff member at Western PA Child Care in Allegheny Township, was the lone witness to testify at the hearing that took just several minutes at Stoughton’s office in Chicora.

The 33-year-old Withers, an employee of the facility’s parent company, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services, Corp., said he was in the cafeteria about 5:15 p.m. May 18 when a large fight erupted between student- inmates.

The brawl, he said, was between detainees assigned to different housing pods.

The Western PA Child Care facility houses males between 16 and 21 years old and counsels those with drug, alcohol and criminal problems. The residents are placed there by juvenile courts across the state.

The free-for-all started when one youth, who was not identified, came through the door of the gymnasium and approached Fisher, who was eating in the cafeteria.

“(Fisher) stood up and started moving toward the other (youth),” Withers told prosecutor Russ Karl, a Butler County assistant district attorney.

In turn, Withers recounted, he got up from his chair to intervene.

“I got speared in the back by Quameere,” Withers said.

While Fisher hit him in the side of the back, the employee testified, the other youth began hitting another staff member who also stepped in to stop the initial fight.

Withers couldn’t say for certain but he guessed that between 12 and 15 student-inmates were part of the fracas.

“I’m not sure (how many),” he told Karl. “There was too much going on.”

Withers said he injured his back but did not seek medical treatment.

Several other employees also were injured in the ensuing melee, state police said. Up to eight staff members ended up needing hospital treatment.

Fisher’s attorney, public defender Maura Palumbi, asked Withers during brief cross-examination if he was certain, amid the chaos, that her client intentionally attacked him.

“I got hit by him,” the victim said. “Was it intended for me? I believe so.”

Fisher, following the hearing, was returned to the Butler County Prison, where he’s being held on $50,000 bail.

Two other youths also are charged, both in juvenile court, with aggravated assault and inciting a riot in the melee — the first of three separate incidents in less than three weeks that ended with police being called to the facility.

A second alleged riot broke out Saturday when some two dozen student-inmates started fighting. Ambulance crews said five staff members and two youths were taken to local hospitals with minor to moderate injuries.

Authorities said Tuesday that they were still reviewing surveillance video before determining who would be charged in the fight.

On Sunday, troopers were called back to the detention center after 10 youths were reported to have gotten out of their secured units.

Police arrested detainees Dorian D. Holmes, 18, and Devin J. Ruffin, 18, both of Pittsburgh in connection with the latest incident.

According to investigators, the men broke out of their rooms and egged on others to do likewise.

Troopers donned in riot gear entered the facility and quickly put down any planned uprising.

During Holmes’ arrest, he was found with a so-called “shank,” a homemade weapon constructed from the metal spine of a notebook binder, police said.

Among the initial charges police filed against both Holmes and Ruffin was a top count of inciting a riot.

But prosecutors on Tuesday withdrew that felony charge against each defendant, who appeared at Stoughton’s office for their scheduled preliminary hearings.

Karl later said the decision to pull the felony charge was made following a review of the incident.

“There didn’t appear to be a riot (Sunday),” he said outside the courtroom.

Holmes and Ruffin, meanwhile, waived to court other charges, all misdemeanors. Each is charged with disorderly conduct.

Holmes also is charged with possession of a weapon for escape and possession of an instrument of crime. The defendants are in the county prison on $10,000 bail each.