By:Nick Buglione
Joseph Barracato, 18, Daniel Dunphy, 17, and Rocco Tenebruso, 17 -- three captains of the Clarke Rams varsity football team -- and Alexander Guy, 16, will not be allowed to take part in any after school programs, including sports, until June 1.
"What I've concluded is that the four charged young men will be entitled to continue to go to school," Dillon said, following his inquiry into the Jan. 18 incident.
That night Barracato, Dunphy , Tenebruso and Guy allegedly beat East Meadow High School's William Tuthill, 17, and David Bevilacqua, 18, at Washington Avenue and Lindy Road in Salisbury.
Police said the two were waiting for a ride home after attending a party when the four Clarke students pulled up in a car and attacked them.
They were arrested Wednesday, Jan. 21, and each was charged with two counts of third-degree assault, a class A misdemeanor that carries the potential penalty of a year in jail or a $1,000 fine.
The Clarke students were suspended from school upon their arrest, though they were permitted to return the next week to take Regents exams.
Barracato, Tenebruso, Dunphy and Guy will continue to go to school, but will not be allowed on any East Meadow School District campus once classes end, Dillon said. That means participation in sports or any other extracurricular activity is out of the question until June 1, just weeks before the last day of school.
Some speculation suggested that a Clarke-East Meadow rivalry motivated the attack, considering Tuthill was wearing his East Meadow High School football jacket that night. Nothing in the superintendent's inquiry, however, indicates that's the case, Dillon said.
"I would like to think not," he said. "I would like to say it was just a bad decision."
Barracato, Dunphy, Tenebruso and Guy were arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to a Nassau County District Attorney spokeswoman. They are due back in court Feb. 27 for a non-felony conference.
