More than 60 Students Arrested in Teaneck High School Prank

Amaury · May 2, 2014

I don't know. I know you guys will hate me for this, but I think ticket citations would have been sufficient.

More than 60 Students Arrested in Teaneck High School Prank

Source: NJ News

Published: May 1, 2014

NJ News said:

TEANECK — More than 60 Teaneck High School students were arrested after a senior prank where the teens sprayed silly string on floors, taped hot dogs to lockers, flipped desks, urinated in the hallways and smeared Vaseline on doors around the school early Thursday, authorities said.

Officers discovered the vandalism after they responded to a burglary alarm at the school around 2 a.m., Teaneck police Acting Chief Robert Carney said at a news conference. When police arrived, several students ran from the building, while others hid inside.

In the end, 63 high school seniors were arrested, including 24 adults, Carney said. The 39 juveniles were released to their parents.

All of them were charged with burglary and criminal mischief, Carney said.

Because of the number of students, police from more than 15 agencies assisted Teaneck officers at the school, Carney said. A K-9 team from the Bergen County Police Department's bomb squad also swept the building before classes.

A Bergen County Sheriff's K-9 unit found eight juveniles hiding in a classroom, according to agency spokesman David Martinez. Students were loaded into sheriff's vans and taken to the township police headquarters without incident after the arrests.

Police said it was not immediately clear how the teens got into the building overnight and investigators were working to collect security camera footage from the school.

More punishment could come from the school district, Superintendent Barbara Pinsak told reporters.

“The district continues to assess the situation and is considering the consequences that we’ll impose on any students implicated,” she added.

While the damage was widespread, it wasn’t permanent, officials said. High school workers cleaned up the mess within a few hours.

The high school opened as usual Thursday despite the disruption, but the arrests were the talk of the school through the day. Many took to social media to share reactions and photos of the damage.

“The word’s spreading very rapidly,” said Romareo Anderson, a high school senior.

“I was aware of it but I didn’t take part because it just didn’t seem right at all,” he said.

Mohamed Beretey, another senior, also said he didn’t take part in the prank.

“I didn’t take part because I knew the consequences I was going to face,” he said. “I’m a football player, I’m an athlete, so I didn’t want my scholarships taken away from me.”

While the senior prank is a tradition, it hasn’t been this severe, Beretey said.

But he offered up a possible explanation for the pranksters.

“They wanted to leave with a bang,” he said. “You gotta leave with a bang right?”

Later Thursday, police led the 18-year-old students to Teaneck Municipal Court in batches of three or four, some of them in chains. Officers setup barricades outside the municipal complex and a crowd packed the courtroom.

Judge James E. Young Jr. told the arrested students that their cases would be referred to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and that they had to report to Central Municipal Court in Hackensack within 48 hours.

A spokeswoman for the county prosecutor said the office had not yet decided how to proceed with the case. Prosecutors could seek indictments or refer the cases back to municipal court on lesser charges.

Bryan Cruz, an 18-year-old senior, said he was released from custody by noon after being held since 3:30 a.m.

"They gave us papers, told us when to go to court, gave us the charges and that's basically it," Cruz said.

Cruz said he was only blowing up balloons and moving desks around when police surrounded the building.

He said he wasn't sure who had committed the more serious acts of vandalism the students are accused of, including urinating on the floor.

"Someone did, but we don't know who," he said.

Joan Luis, a 17-year-old senior who was in the school with Cruz Thursday morning, said the security footage would exonerate the two of them.

"We're trying to get the tape from the school so we can track ourselves throughout the process and show that we didn't break anything," he said. "We were just doing a prank."
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Ars Nova · May 2, 2014

Because of the number of students, police from more than 15 agencies assisted Teaneck officers at the school, Carney said. A K-9 team from the Bergen County Police Department's bomb squad also swept the building before classes.
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Really? ...Really? :\

Whoever pissed on the floors went overboard but this is over the overboard. I mean you know what you're getting into with a senior prank, if you're caught in the act you get what you deserve, but this just seems pointlessly extreme. They won't learn anything from it, in fact a few of 'em probably got what they wanted in the fact it turned into a news article.

Meilin Lee · May 2, 2014

I don't think arresting them was necessary. However, suspending/expelling them would've been something I personally would've done. But still, I can understand the reasons behind arresting them, after all, this was a vandalism, which is considered a crime.

Amaury · May 2, 2014

Roxam said: ↑

I don't think arresting them was necessary. However, suspending/expelling them would've been something I personally would've done. But still, I can understand the reasons behind arresting them, after all, this was a vandalism, which is considered a crime.
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I can understand the reasoning, too; however, while what they did was a crime, as unsanitary as it may be, it's was a relatively small one.

What's got me the most curious is that one of the charges is burglary, but they didn't steal anything.

Meilin Lee · May 2, 2014

Yut said: ↑

while what they did was a crime, as unsanitary as it may be, it's was a relatively small one.
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Sorry, but this is a very weak argument. Small or big, a crime is a crime, and cannot be ignored.

Amaury · May 2, 2014

Roxam said: ↑

Sorry, but this is a very weak argument. Small or big, a crime is a crime, and cannot be ignored.
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No, of course not. I'm talking about the consequences of crimes. A murderer killing someone would get a really harsh punishment whereas a thief stealing candy wouldn't.

Meilin Lee · May 2, 2014

Yut said: ↑

No, of course not. I'm talking about the consequences of crimes. A murderer killing someone would get a really harsh punishment whereas a thief stealing candy wouldn't.
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I think you're getting confused on the meaning of "arrest." Being arrested doesn't mean getting punished, you're simply under custody. The actual punishment would then be given depending on the crime (ex. life in prison for murder). Don't get me wrong, I still think they shouldn't have been arrested, and that the school should've dealt with them. But when the alarm went off, the police did what they had to do.

Ars Nova · May 2, 2014

Roxam said: ↑

Sorry, but this is a very weak argument. Small or big, a crime is a crime, and cannot be ignored.
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Actually that's a pretty weak argument since it appeals to law. If you want to stop the crime, you assess the criminal; some of these boys absolutely deserve to be suspended or expelled, but others could get away with a stern lecture and a slap on the wrist. For chrissakes, some of them did nothing more than silly-string the halls. This aggressive agenda of punishment is doing nothing but compelling more people to commit crimes, because first off the pressure not to is exhausting, and second you get on the damn news for it.

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More than 60 Students Arrested in Teaneck High School Prank

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