Teen handcuffed, threatened with arrest for using pin to hold glasses together
theGrio REPORT - Parents and students have rallied outside a high school in support of a senior who was handcuffed and threatened with arrest over a pin that he was using to hold his glasses together.
Parents and students have rallied outside a high school in support of a senior who was handcuffed and threatened with arrest over a pin that he was using to hold his glasses together. Protesters are wearing pins that read, “We’re students not prisoners.”
The student, identified as Noah, had been attended classes for weeks with broken glasses held together by a pin, but on Thursday, campus security stopped him.
“When (Noah) reached for his glasses, the safety agents must have thought he was reaching for a weapon,” said sophomore Britney Brazela, who saw what happened. “Three or four cops jumped on him. They pushed him into a wall and then onto the floor. While he was going down, his elbow accidentally hit one of them in the face.”
According to police, Noah did not follow instructions, was confrontational and struggled with the agents.
But Brazela says that is out of character for Noah. “Noah is a very quiet kid — I never saw him cause any trouble,” she said. “I can’t believe that happened. It was scary.”
Noah’s principal called him into the office to give his account of what happened.
“While our student was writing, NYPD officers arrived on our floor, forcefully entered Principal Bloomberg’s office, and handcuffed our student again,” a PTA letter says. “He was dragged out, placed under arrest, and held in a room by NYPD officers without his parents or any of our staff present.”
After the police and the school administrators argued it out, Noah was released and was not charged, though he still has to answer a summons to Youth Court.
