NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Documents obtained under a Freedom of Information request filed by Talk of the Sound raise new questions about the timing of a report by New Rochelle Schools Security Director Bruce Daniele of a pellet-gun shooting incident in a crowded classroom at New Rochelle High School.
According to a statement issued by New Rochelle High School Principal Reggie Richardson last week, two students were suspended on November 5th, following an incident in a crowded classroom. A plastic pellet gun was discharged several times while students watched a film. At least one of the pellets narrowly missed the classroom teacher, Kristin Dragone. No one was injured.
Richardson characterized the event as a “shooting incident” involving a “pellet gun”. One source familiar with details of the incident says a toy NERF gun was “hacked” to cause it to shoot BBs although only hollow plastic pellets were fired in the classroom (How to make an Nerf Bullet that shoots Airsoft BBs)
The New Rochelle Police Department Incident Report states that the incident occurred on 11/5/2014 and that police responded on 11/7/2014.
Asked to explain the delay between when the date of the incident and when police responded, School District spokesperson Allison Gilbert told Talk of the Sound that no crime was committed so no police report was required but School Security Director Bruce Daniele wanted the case documented regardless and so reported the incident to police the following day, November 6th.
“The police, because there was no emergency, decided to come at their convenience a day after Bruce reached out to them (November 7th),” said Gilbert.
The statement by the District more than suggests that the police report contains knowingly false and misleading information, that even though the narrative section of the report refers only to 11/7/2014 the call from Daniele came on 11/6/2014 and the cause of this discrepancy is that New Rochelle police chose to “come at their convenience”.
The District’s statement does not explain why Daniele would wait a day to call the police and then why, having done so, why the police would wait another day to respond — and allegedly falsify a police report in the process.