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A judge ordered the 15-year-old charged in Thursday’s stabbing in the Sachem High School East parking lot held without bail at his arraignment Friday.
Then, outside the courthouse, his mother, while expressing how furious she was with the judge’s decision, said her son had been bullied leading up to Thursday’s stabbing.
The teen was arraigned as a juvenile offender at Suffolk First District Court in Central Islip. During the proceeding, the prosecutor said the teen used a four-inch kitchen knife and stabbed the 16-year-old victim in the upper chest, according to reports.
“If a kid is being bullied, you know, how many times do you think it’s going to take for them to keep on being peer pressured and being bullied … before they take actions in their own hands?” the teen’s mom told reporters outside the courthouse.
She claimed she had seen video of the fight. Video of the incident shows hundreds of students looking on as two teenage boys fought, ABC 7 reported
“It should not have escalated for a minute and 30 seconds before anybody got involved,” she said. “When I teach my kids to protect themselves and when they go to school, I expect for the school to protect my kids.”
She also said she feels for the injured student, who is recovering from emergency surgery, and his family.
“I do feel bad for what happened,” she said. “Just like how those parents are hurting for him, I’m hurting for my kid too.”
Suffolk Police said Sixth Squad detectives arrested the teen after the stabbing Thursday at about 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the Granny Road school in Farmingville. He is charged with first-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Police confirmed the victim was seriously injured, though his injuries are not life-threatening.
Sachem schools Superintendent Patti Trombetta said the stabbing happened at dismissal and that police told the district the campus was secure. She said the district would work with its own security team and Suffolk Police to address the community’s concerns.
The stabbing came nine days after a 16-year-old was arrested at Smithtown High School West with a handgun, a magazine and a knife in his backpack. According to a felony complaint obtained by Greater Long Island, the gun had been reported stolen from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
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