MECHANICVILLE — Two local women have been arrested after police said they encouraged a fight between two teenage girls in a video that was later posted on the Internet.

According to police, Veronica Farley, 31, of Viall Ave., Mechanicville, encouraged her daughter as the teenager held down and repeatedly punched another teenage girl in the head during a fight in late March.

Police said the girl’s aunt, Tina Farley, 26, of Turf Trailer Park, Halfmoon, also encouraged the fight.

The two women were charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. They were both arrested on Thursday and released on an appearance ticket.

According to police, the fight happened on March 25.

Police said they didn’t know the fight happened until last week when they were tipped off about the video.

Officers said they recognized the adults and teenagers involved once they watched the video, which was posted on the Web site www.tinypic.com after the fight.

The names and ages of the girls involved are not being released, but police said they are both teenagers under the age of 16.

The teenage aggressor in the video was charged with assault and will be processed as a minor, Mechanicville Police Chief Joseph Waldron said. The victim was not charged.

The victim suffered minor injuries as a result of the fight and did not seek medical attention, Waldron said.

At one point during the profanity-laced video, one woman can be heard saying “Pick ’em up and kick ’em.”

The victim being pinned to the ground and repeatedly punched can be heard yelling at the other girl to get off of her throughout the video.

The video captured about 20 seconds of the fight before it was broken up.

“This case involved a very disturbing event in which a guardian or a relative actually encouraged a fight to take place,” Waldron said. “When we went on the Web and we saw this, we knew something had to take place now.”

The adults could have been charged even if they didn’t encourage the fight because they failed to intervene and stop it, according to police.

“Clearly, the adults involved in this case didn’t exercise good judgment, and so we’re going to help them exercise good judgment next time by arresting them,” Waldron said. “Maybe they’ll think twice before they encourage people to fight.”

According to police, the fight occurred at the bottom of a long set of steps leading from the Mechanicville City School District campus to a playground off Park Avenue.

Waldron said violence between teenagers, a majority of whom have been girls, has been a problem there in recent months. The playground is not on school property.

“It seems like kids think this is another rite of passage,” he said. “We have been dealing with this for a long, long time. This year happens to be the worst year we have ever seen up there.”

Waldron said police believe the aggressor was upset with the victim because she was gossiping about her, based on audio from the Internet video.

“Are you gonna keep running your mouth?” one voice taunts in the video after the fight was broken up. “How do you like that?”

Waldron said police have not responded to a fight involving the two girls since the March incident.

Police said school officials have been cooperating in an effort to ramp up supervision of students heading toward the playground.

“In terms of the off-campus situation, we would let the court system and the judicial system work with that,” Mechanicville Superintendent of Schools Michael McCarthy said.

“Obviously, if it was on our property or on our campus we would deal with it in terms of discipline.”

McCarthy said money is included in the proposed budget that voters are considering today to pay for a roving monitor who would supervise the school campus.

“We’re hoping the budget passes and we can put that in place,” he added.

Waldron said police are ramping up patrols in the playground area and are seeking a grant to buy a surveillance camera to put there.