Taser and knife brought to school

9 teens entered G.N. South armed

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

A group of Queens teenagers with a Taser, switchblade-style knife and pepper spray entered Great Neck South High School in December, according to district ofcials and documents obtained by Blank Slate Media.

The nine teenagers all entered the building Dec. 16, according to an email to the community from South High School Principal Christopher Gitz. Three of the students entered the school in the morning, according to Gitz. It is unclear when the other six entered.

“Approximately nine non-Great Neck teenagers attempted to enter South High School,” the email read. “Most of the trespassers fed the scene and were later caught and detained by Lake Success police ofcers.”

Gitz, in a Dec. 19 email to the community, said a South High student gave the trespassers access into the school. Gitz met with the student, a junior, on Dec. 19 and asked him to write down his encounters with the trespassers.

The student’s written account of the incident, obtained by News- day, said the teenagers “said that I shouldn’t tell anybody anything or they would come after me next.” The student, according to a transcript from a Jan. 3 disciplinary hearing, said the trespassers wanted to be directed to the locker room.

While no injuries were reported, Gitz said the trespassers came to “visit” the girlfriend of one of the teenagers and to confront another student, according to the transcript from the disciplinary hearing.

Elmer Rodriguez, the student’s father, said during the hearing that the incident and aftermath had taken a toll on his son.

“He was terrorized,” Rodriguez said. “He still is terrorized. He cannot sleep. This kid needs help.”

Immediate eforts to reach Rodriguez for further comment were unavailing.

During the hearing, the student said he escorted three of the teenagers into the locker room. He said during the hearing he did not notify a teacher because of the violent threats made by the trespassers and did not think teachers would take them seriously.

“I just felt like I didn’t want to put my own safety on the line because they were sitting right next to me,” the student said. “And when they said they have weapons and they were going to use it on me if I told anybody, I didn’t want to say anything. I kept my mouth shut.” senger, 16. Both were treated at the scene for minor injuries, according to police.

Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Michel Bushwack, chief of the Nassau District Attorney’s Vehicular Crimes Bureau, said a black box inside of Singh’s truck registered the vehicle traveling at 95 miles per hour fve seconds before the crash.

Bushwack also told the Appellate Division’s Second Judicial Department Singh attempted to fee the scene of the crash, had a 0.15 blood alcohol limit four hours after the crash and cocaine in his system.

Immediate eforts to reach prosecutors for further comment were unavailing.

Det. Capt. Steven Fitzpatrick, commanding ofcer of the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad, told reporters on Thursday that the scene of the crash was “probably one of the most catastrophic” he had seen “in a long time.”

Fitzpatrick said surveillance video showed Singh asking police what they were doing at the scene, thinking he was in New Jersey.

Singh was held without bail by District Judge Anthony Paradiso at the Nassau County Courthouse on May 8.

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Queens teenagers trespassed into Great Neck South High School in December, according to district officials and documents obtained by Blank Slate Media.

The student said he skipped his Spanish class after the lunch period ended in fear of what the trespassers would do. He also reiterated during the hearing that he did not know the teenagers “were from Flushing to begin with,” according to the transcript.

“I never knew these kids from Flushing. I never knew their names,” he said.

Rodriguez told Richard Thompson, the hearing ofcer, “How is it possible that a child who does nothing but comes to school and run[s] into this problem and be punished?”

Thompson said he found the student’s testimony to “be not credible” during the hearing.

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EDITORIAL:

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