Posted on 03/31/2006 9:25:48 AM PST by Cagey
Four Kennedy High School students were charged Thursday in an assault on a Kennedy senior who was pummeled in the school auditorium in front of scores of students and who, witnesses said, was attacked with feces later found strewn across the auditorium floor.
Teachers and students were horrified by the incident, which left the victim, an 18-year-old honor student, with a broken nose, two black eyes, abrasions on both eyes and a swollen cheek, according to his father.
"For these [attackers] to do what they did is beyond disgusting,'' said one teacher who asked for anonymity. "No kid should go through what this young man went through. ... I've never seen anything like this.''
Police on Thursday charged the four alleged attackers with simple battery, a misdemeanor, although Chicago Police Department spokeswoman Monique Bond said the Cook County state's attorney's office could upgrade charges.
Charged were two 16-year-old juveniles, as well as Donnell Quante Little, 18, of the 4500 block of South Lavergne, and Quinten McKenney, 17, of the 4400 block of South Leamington, Bond said.
All four were suspended for 10 days and face expulsion, said Chicago Public Schools spokesman Michael Vaughn.
Dad sees videotape
The victim's father said he is pulling his son out of Kennedy.
"He said, 'Dad, please, I don't want to go back there. I'm afraid. I don't need this. I want to go to another school and finish up,'" said the teen's father, who requested anonymity for his son.
The father said eight to 10 kids pounced on his son "like a gang of wolves'' Wednesday. He was treated at a hospital for a broken nose and other injuries, and by Thursday, he looked like a cross between "Jake La Motta and Rocky,'' the father said.
School cameras captured part of the attack, and the father said police played the videotape for him at the school Thursday.
Bond said police reports described a fight and broken nose but did not mention feces as part of the attack shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday at Kennedy, 6325 W. 56th.
Vaughn confirmed that "what appeared to be human feces was found on the floor'' but said Kennedy's disciplinarian insisted Thursday that "nobody has reported to him that they came in contact'' with any.
However, two students told the Chicago Sun-Times they saw feces thrown during the attack.
Two teachers who tried to break up the fight were smeared with feces, witnesses said, and a third walked into her classroom afterward with "mess on her shoes,'' a student said.
The incident began after the victim emerged from the boys' gym, where all male students had been held for 2-1/2 hours Wednesday during a metal detector search.
"When he walked out of the gym ... he was attacked by three kids,'' the father said. "They punched him -- one shot each in the face.''
The victim then ran into the auditorium to join more than 200 classmates at an extended, weekly "senior hall'' division class in which honor students were supposed to be rewarded with free tickets to an upcoming dance, teachers said.
Behind him, a gang of students burst through in hot pursuit, witnesses told the Sun-Times.
The attackers "were yelling, 'Kick his ass, get him,' '' one teacher said. They pummeled the victim to the ground as scores of his fellow seniors got up and encircled the group to watch the fight, witnesses said.
Violent incidents up 56 percent
Not only was the victim punched, said senior Jesus Feliz, but "they were throwing feces on this kid. It was just sick. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen.''
Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart called the incident "vile and inexplicable,'' saying it "confirms what the union, parents and the community at large have been saying about concerns of lack of safety for the children and staff in these high schools.''
Just last week, a Kennedy student was disciplined for hiding a loaded gun in the bushes outside the school. Several teachers said daily fights are not unusual.
Systemwide so far this school year, reported violent incidents in high schools are down 3 percent, but at Kennedy, they are up 56 percent, CPS data indicated.
"The fights have definitely increased this year,'' said junior Jasmin Rodriguez.
Several kids and teachers blamed the uptick on 190 new students who have transferred into Kennedy since October. And, teachers said, the instability caused by three different principals in 2-1/2 years has made controlling violence more difficult.
However, Vaughn said, the 28 reported violent incidents through Jan. 31 are "still a relatively small number of incidents given the large number of students -- 1,600.''
That one line tells us who's in charge.
What the folk is going on> Expell those animals and get back to teaching.
Honor student was later heard to say---"I will NEVER HIRE any those bums"
When you express a controversial thought like that, you need to do so anonymously. However, if the teacher had condemned the young man for needlessly provoking his classmates, the teacher could certainly have used his/her name.
There's the problem right there. This kid obviously had an unfair advantage over his fellow urban youths.
They had been held for a metal detector search...? It doesn't sound like a school it sounds like a prison.
When do we finally come to the conclusion that not everyone should be required to have a public education? As long as schools have to have cameras and metal dectators it's educational mission is compromised to a point where it's not worth much.
Jerks who don't want to learn and keep others from leaning MUST be barred.
Where on earth did these cretins manage to find large amounts of human feces, and then transport it to fling on the student that was the object of this attack?
Also, I can only think of one animal that will fling its feces at you, and the comparison is not a flattering one.
This is what the culture of glorifying self-esteem above all else has brought us. The idea that bullies have "low self-esteem" is one of the dumbest in modern history. Bullies have too much self-esteem. That's why they're bullies. They arrogantly think they're better than anyone else and have the right to pick on whoever they want.
Still sounds like a lot to me.
I agree. No point in needlessly demeaning that species here.
So, I wonder why they were beating on this kid.
It can't be that they thought he was gay. In that case the term 'gay bashing' would dominate the title, or at least the first sentence.
Same if he were black and/or mozzie.
No cookie-cutter buzzwords here to tell us what a sickening white-hetero-male-caused trajedy this is. Therefore the attackers must not have been straight white males.
I predict (based on the lack of detail and absence of bandwagon media pseudo-outcry) that the attackers were gays, mozzies, or some other lib/media darling group while the kid they were pounding on is one of those evil oppressive white male types.
The attackers probably produced the missile weapons through digestive processes. With manual loading and launching, neither delivery systems nor ammunition would have problems getting through the metal detectors.
Absolutely. But the free babysitting that public schools provide has allowed women to work which has allowed the govt to increase taxes everywhere.
It won't be easy to break the cycle. Every community I've lived in continues to raise their school levy.
One of these days we'll recognize that children really do need to be raised by adults who care about them, not teachers, and that capitalism will fail without human capital.
Hmm... what kind of a name is "Donnell Quante"... Mexican? German? Swedish? Armenian? Eskimo? Lithuanian? Ukranian? Japanese?...
"The attackers probably produced the missile weapons through digestive processes."
Their own? They dropped trou, stood there and took a dump, into their own hands, with the express purpose of slinging it at this kid? Good grief, it's some sort of scatalogical "Lord Of The Flies."
What is worse, attending a maximum security prison or an "inner city" high school?
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