NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A recently suspended New Rochelle High School student spent part of his morning Tuesday directing traffic and crossing students at the intersection of Eastchester Road and White Oak Street. An hour later he was gone but not before 10 people including high school security, the NRPD and the MTA Police had arrived.
He was wearing a home made police uninform with a NRPD Patch on the left arm.
New Rochelle Police were called to the scene after this reporter noticed a “police officer” exhibiting odd behavior like shaking hands with the students as they crossed the road, leaving his post to walk back towards the high school and play-fighting with students after the made it to the other side of the street. The “police officer” was wearing mirrored sunglasses, dressed in paratrooper jump boots, black full-length cargo pants, a dark blue long-sleeved dress with insignias on the left and right arm. He did not have a police hat, utility belt, radio, weapon and there was no police car in the area and the New Rochelle Police do not typically have anyone from the department crossing students at 11 a.m.
The “police officer” turned out to be a 15-year old student at New Rochelle High School.
After the first police officer arrived to question the “police officer”, the student was told to remove the “police shirt”. Underneath he was wearing a T-shirt issued by the MTA Police Department Explorers, a youth-group for students interested in becoming police officers.
More police officers appeared on scene, including two supervisors. New Rochelle High School security was called to the scene, then an identified civilian who appeared to be a family member or friend of the family, then two officers from the MTA Police.
The student was released to the custody of the civilian without further incident.
