Police from the 52nd precinct are investigating the slashing of a 14-year-old boy in Williamsbridge Oval Park in Norwood which took place over the weekend.

 

The NYPD confirmed that on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 4.40 p.m., a 14-year-old boy was playing basketball [in the specified park, located at 3224 Reservoir Oval E.] when a male assailant approached him and slashed him on the cheek. The victim was removed to Jacobi Medical Center in stable condition.

 

According to the victim’s mother, whose identity we are not disclosing, the assailant is known to the victim as they were former classmates at a school in the Northwest Bronx. The mother said that the incident was “completely unprovoked,” and occurred while the victim was playing with his friends in the park.

 

“My family were in the park, in close proximity to provide immediate attention,” the boy’s distressed mother told the Norwood News. “He [her son] was admitted to Jacobi Hospital and, as described by the physician, the stabbing was less than a half inch from [being] a fatal wound.” She added that had this been the case, the doctors would not have been able to provide life-saving treatment.

 

Some users of the Citizen’s App also posted about the incident the same evening, writing, “Police advise that the suspect fled towards Bainbridge Avenue,” and “EMS is en route.”

The boy’s mother said that as of Monday, Oct. 11, the 52nd precinct detectives were aware of the identity of the alleged assailant [though he was unnamed in the police report received by Norwood News].

 

According to the mother, detectives are investigating the incident as a possible gang initiation ritual but for reasons relating to the investigation are currently unable to make an arrest. She said her son was treated in time to spare his life but added it was clear the assailant intended to inflict fatal harm to prove something which she said her family cannot even begin to comprehend.

She said the family are currently waiting to hear back from the detective on the case. “Until then, we feel helpless without any form of protection or guidance on how to remain safe,” she said. “I am requesting and in need of support, supervision, intervention and protection for my son […] as we fear there may be other children associated with this gang that may want to inflict harm on my son or other children that may end in fatality.”

 

The woman requested a meeting, as well as remote learning to be granted to her son by his school. “I am requesting support from the special victims crime unit for my family to guide us through this process,” she said. “Any support is appreciated.”

 

Following a request for comment on the points raised by the victim’s mother regarding the investigation, on Monday, Oct. 11, the NYPD told the Norwood News they would not comment on an active and ongoing investigation. However, they did confirm that police have identified a suspect in the case.

 

Asked for a comment regarding the mother’s concerns for her and her family’s protection, an NYPD representative suggested she liaise with her local Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs) at the 52nd precinct and provided their names. Norwood News duly passed on the contact details of the NCOs to the mother, contacted the NCOs directly and asked for details of what form the family’s requested protection would take.

 

We also reached out to the school where the boy is currently a student and to the New York City Department of Education regarding the mother’s request for a remote learning option to be made available to her son and to others who are fearful of gang violence at schools.

 

We will update this story upon receipt of any responses we receive.

One resident of the Northwest Bronx told the Norwood News that October is recognized informally as gang initiation month.

 

As previously reported, a student from Bronx Collaborative High School was hospitalized following a slashing incident which took place at the school on Sept. 15, after a dispute broke out between two students. Police confirmed on Sept. 21 that a 15-year-old male youth was arrested on Sept. 20 in relation to the incident and has been charged with assault.

 

The NYPD responded to the 911 call regarding the assault which occurred at 100 West Mosholu Parkway South in Jerome Park, the address for DeWitt School campus. The campus is home to four schools, one of which is Bronx Collaborative High School. The others are Worldview High School, DeWitt Clinton High School, and District 75 High School.

 

Upon arrival, officers were informed by a 15-year-old male youth that he had gotten involved in a verbal dispute with another male individual, and that the dispute escalated into a physical altercation. The victim had been slashed in the face with an unknown sharp object and the suspect had fled the location to parts unknown. EMS transported the victim to Montefiore Hospital in stable condition.

 

Following the incident, representatives from the school sent a letter to parents, informing them that the altercation occurred between two students and that a soft lockdown, followed by a hard lockdown, had been put into effect on the day in question to ensure students’ safety. They confirmed that the lockdown was lifted at 2.41 p.m., that the matter was being investigated by police, and that counseling was available to any students who needed it.

 

Norwood News reached out to the NYC Department of Education (DOE) on Sept. 19, for a comment on the incident. Nathaniel Styer, DOE deputy press secretary, responded the same day, saying, “The safety of students and staff is our top priority, and NYPD and EMS immediately responded.” He added, “We’re taking additional safety measures at the school and working closely with NYPD as they conduct an investigation.”

 

One parent who spoke with Norwood News on condition of anonymity said he and his wife had not been properly informed by Bronx Collaborative High School about what actually occurred on Sept. 15 at the school. He cited the letter from the founding principal, Brett Schneider, but said it was vague on the details of what had actually occurred, and that they were still waiting on a full explanation.

 

On Aug. 30, City & State reported that the City administration intends to transfer 5,000 school safety agents out of the NYPD’s purview over the next ten months, in efforts to calm fears about policing in schools. According to the story, the transition is expected to be completed by June 2022, and if it goes ahead, would result in such school safety agents falling under the oversight of the DOE rather than the NYPD, in the future. Norwood News asked the DOE about the reported transfer, and officials did not dispute it.

 

Youth and other groups like Sistas & Brothas United, the youth arm of the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, have long called for less school safety agents on school campuses, as previously reported. The group has said that the presence of police on campuses increases tensions and exacerbates the school-to-prison pipeline.

 

Instead, they call for more funding to be channeled into various educational, emotional and psychological support services for students, to prevent such conflicts from arising in the first place. They also advocate for restorative justice solutions over punitive measures to resolve conflicts.

 

Speaking at a December 2020 protest organized by Sistas & Brothas United, the culmination of a series of other rallies held throughout 2020, Wesley Guzman of Sistas & Brothas United said the event had been organized, once again, to bring attention to how youth of color are criminalized in schools instead of being given what they need to feel supported in holistic learning spaces.

 

“2020 has been a difficult year for all of us, and we hoped that the Department of Education would have stepped up and provided a safe and supportive learning environment for our students, our families, our teachers and our community,” he said at the time. “Yet, our youth were left with the same old racist and criminalizing practices and budget priorities.”

 

The Student Safety Act requires that the New York City Police Department publicly issue quarterly reports on arrests, summonses and other police-involved incidents in New York City public schools. As reported by City & State, according to a 2019 ACLU Student Safety Act Report on racial disparities, in the 2018-2019 school year, Black and LatinX students represented 66 percent of the student body, but were involved in 88.9 percent of police interventions in schools.

 

Since the implementation of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the summer of 2019, the proportion of incidents involving Black and Latinx students slightly increased to 89.4 percent. ACLU found that “this was generally consistent with other changes over the years as the City does more to reduce the overall impact of police in schools, but does little to explicitly eliminate racial disparities.” The disparities actually worsen. NYC students started the 2019-2020 school year with the new MOU in place that strictly limits the activities of police in non-emergency situations.

 

In addition, a new state law prohibits police from stepping in to manage everyday school discipline. Advocates expect (and hope) the new policies will begin to have a major impact on the number of in-school arrests and police actions.

 

Norwood News reached out to Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, on behalf of Sistas & Brothas United, for a comment on the slashing incident at Bronx Collaborative High School. They responded saying it was unlikely they would be commenting on the topic.

 

Norwood News previously reported on prior measures taken at the DeWitt school campus to keep students safe, following a previous stabbing incident which occurred outside the campus in November 2019. Bronx Collaborative High School is described on its Facebook page as an innovative, public, college-prep school in the Bronx that focuses on technology, real-world problems and social justice.

 

On Aug. 24, the NYC School Safety Coalition, a coalition of parents, families, religious leaders, and community leaders who support the continuation of School Safety Agents’ presence in schools, held a virtual school safety agent career opportunity workshop, together with two school safety agents. The event was hosted by Little Africa Bronx News moderator, Mona Davids, who is also a parent, with the aim of encouraging others to apply for upcoming, open school safety agent positions.

 

According to the Facebook page of NYC School Safety Coalition, the group said, “We believe it is crucial that SSAs continue to be under the purview of the NYPD.” The workshop can be watched in full here.

 

Davids spoke to Norwood News on Sunday, Sept. 19. In the context of the confirmation by DOE that 5,000 school safety agents would be transferred out of the purview of the NYPD, and under DOE control by June 2022, Davids highlighted that in 2002, DOE shifted from being overseen by 32 school boards to being overseen centrally by the mayor, a system known as “mayoral control.” This means the mayor has the power to control educational policy. It is a control that is not guaranteed indefinitely and must be renewed by the State Legislature every few years.

 

Davids said that Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, a former police detective, has committed to retaining school safety agents under the control of the NYPD, and therefore, she doesn’t see how the DOE will transfer the referenced 5,000 school safety agents to DOE control.

 

She added that school safety agents do not carry guns, and are not police officers but civil servants who take a civil servant’s exam. She was critical of groups such as the ACLU who she said sought to erroneously, in her opinion, portray school safety officers as police, adding that, decades ago, when school safety agents were actually under the purview of the DOE, the department did not, in her view, adequately handle school safety, and that this was why they were later subsequently trained by the NYPD and transferred under the control of the police agency. However, she reiterated that they are not police officers. “School safety shouldn’t be used to play political football,” said Davids. “We’re talking about our children, life and death, and I’m a mother.”

 

Davids said that it was her view that the proposal by DOE to move 5,000 safety officers out of the control of the NYPD and under the control of DOE was a way for current City administration officials to succumb to the political pressure they have been under since May 2020 to defund the police, following the murder of George Floyd. She said those who are calling to defund the police are not bearing the brunt of the high crime that is being experienced by many families across the City, and in the Bronx in particular, including gang-related crime, which she said has infiltrated the City’s public school system.

 

“So it’s just all of these people…… who drive around with an NYPD security detail screaming ‘defund [the] NYPD’ or these others who are hypocrites who live in safe neighborhoods,” she said. “It’s not their children, you know, that are dying on the streets. It’s not their family members that can get shot going to the supermarket, or sitting in a park celebrating whatever Mexican day or Puerto Rican day, or just community events.”

 

Davids, who is from South Africa and who grew up under the apartheid regime, also flatly rejects the notion that maintaining school safety agents in schools is racist. She said the majority of school safety agents are female, Black and brown employees, some of whom are mothers themselves.

 

Davids and her organization held a rally on the issue of school safety at City Hall on Sunday, Oct. 10, as reported by AM NY. They have also launched an online petition for their cause. Present, among others, at the rally was Eve Hendricks, mother of Brandon Hendricks, a promising, young basketball star, who was shot and killed in the Bronx in June 2010, as reported.

 

Norwood News reached out to both the City and to Eric Adams’ campaign for comment on Davids’ remarks. The DOE responded to our inquiry, confirming that the transfer was going ahead. As their response was quite lengthy, we have included it in full in a new story.

 

Meanwhile, News 12 The Bronx reported on Oct. 5 that Gregory Floyd, the union president of Teamsters Local 237 which represents thousands of school safety agents working in the city’s public school system, said out of roughly 3,500 school safety agents, 745 are still not vaccinated. A vaccine mandate is already in effect and requires all employees working in the city’s public schools to be vaccinated or take unpaid leave.

 

On Tuesday, Sept. 21, several media outlets reported on a separate stabbing which occurred the same day at around 2.30 p.m. when at least eight people were reportedly hurt in a bizarre series of events that reportedly involved a car crash and a knife fight outside Harry S. Truman High School on Baychester Avenue in Co-Op City.

 

On Wednesday, Oct. 13, the NY Daily News reported that, according to police, a 13-year-old boy wanted for shooting another boy the same age as him, after threatening the boy on Snapchat, was busted when the shooter’s mother saw a wanted poster and surrendered him to the authorities.

 

On Thursday, Oct. 14, officers from the 52nd precinct confirmed that an arrest has been made. There is limited information on the arrest due to prevailing legal restrictions around the case.

 

The officers also confirmed that Youth Coordinating Officers (YCOs) from the 52nd precinct have an open case ongoing due to the fact that the victim was a juvenile. They said they will continue with follow-up visits with the victim, which is one of their duties when an individual is listed on a complaint report as a victim or as a defendant.

 

“Patrol will be increased by NCO D in the vicinity of Reservoir Oval park, along with patrol units who make up the majority of our officers on the street,” they said. “Also, YCOs currently assist with school dismissals during the weekday. As always, YCOs are also extremely invested in assisting juveniles with attending our NYPD Explorer program, hoping to help the youth before issues like this arise.”

 

Editor’s Note: If you are a student or a parent of a student who has concerns about school safety, we would be interested in speaking to you. Please reach out to us at smoloney@norwoodnews.org, via the Norwood News Twitter Direct Message function, or via Norwood News Messenger app, and we can give you a call. Thank you.  

 

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story described the incident as a stabbing, the action used by the boy’s mother to describe the incident. Police later described it as a slashing.