Police sources tell Talk of the Sound that the increased after-school police presence in New Rochelle is the result of heightened tensions after a “wannabe” gang-banger from Mount Vernon but enrolled at New Rochelle High School got into a “beef” with another New Rochelle High School student and things began to escalate.
On Thursday afternoon the increased police presence was noticeable. The NRPD’s Critical Incident Unit truck was parked at the corner of Lawton Street and Main Street in downtown New Rochelle. There were six police cars at the McDonald’s on North Avenue near the high school and some officers were standing in front of the McDonald’s. A City School District of New Rochelle security vehicle was parked on the grass alongside a path which runs from the high school to Eastchester Road. Two more police cars and school security guards were stationed on Clove Road near the “teacher’s parking lot”.
Things began to escalate when the student from Mount Vernon went home and called on his friends from Mount Vernon for support. There have been sporadic reports of violence at the high school since — mostly shoving matches and fist fights. There is currently a “group suspension” in effect at New Rochelle High School, sources tell Talk of the Sound. The NRHS student from Mount Vernon is black and the other student is Latino and the tension has turned into a Black-Latino dispute.
The CIU truck on Lawtown street was parked just a few blocks down from the site of an October 16, 2007 melee in which 3 youths were injured including one who was thrown through a plate glass window. Two youths were arrested for possession of an edged-weapon.
Back then, The New York Times wrote:
The Oct. 16 brawl came six months after more than 1,000 teenagers and young adults — most from outside the city — raged out of control after being turned away from New Roc City, a popular youth-oriented entertainment complex.
Kelly Johnson, executive director of the New Rochelle Youth Bureau, said he was reaching out to the youths involved in the Oct. 16 fight to try and resolve differences. He said the fight appeared to be between youths of Mexican descent from the west end of town and black teenagers who live in a housing development near Monroe College.
The same story quotes the co-chairman of the advisory committee of the Business Improvement District saying the melee was “an isolated incident”. Sound familiar?
Related Talk of the Sound stories:
NRPD Calls Out New Rochelle High School Principal, More VADIR Lies from Don Conetta
City of New Rochelle Police Department Gang Member Location Map