By Nick Buglione
Police said about 10 local kids were hanging out behind the school on Bellmore Road on Wednesday, July 30, just after 11 p.m. The secluded area has long been a popular late-night gathering place for local teenagers, according to residents who live nearby.
Some six to eight cars pulled up at the school and a number of teenagers rushed out toward the four victims, beating them with bats, bottles and tire irons, police said. The assailants then fled the scene in unknown directions.
A motorist driving by called 911 and police were dispatched to the school. The four victims, one 20-year-old and three 17-year-olds, were taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where they were treated for head injuries.
Though police did not release the identities of the victims, Detective Sgt. Dennis Ude, of the First Squad, said the 20-year-old was the older brother of another teenager hanging out at Parkway. There was no update on the victims' conditions as of press time.
"We're investigating all aspects of the assault, but at this point we think there's no reason to believe that it was gang-related," said Ude.
Police think the suspects were students from the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, and that the fight was over a beef they had with the East Meadow youths.
The assault marks another chapter in the ongoing saga of problems at Parkway stemming from teenagers loitering on school property, local parents said. "They're in there all the time," said Kathy Volpe, co-president of the Parkway PTA. "It's getting worse."
For years now, teenagers have been hanging out on school grounds, drinking and causing mischief, Volpe said. "They cut up our windows, they etch things into our windows," she said. "You should see some of the things they write."
Just last spring, she added, teens destroyed a school playground set by lighting it on fire.
"You can walk in there on a Monday morning and you would be amazed at all the beer bottles you will find," said Debra Muller-Hillman, also co-president of the Parkway PTA.
Loiterers also broke in half, then later uprooted, a tree the PTA planted in front of the school for Arbor Day last year, she said.
Acts of vandalism grew so frequent that Volpe once requested that East Meadow School District officials install surveillance cameras at Parkway. Citing budget constraints, they denied her request, she said.
Last week's assault has heightened parents' concerns, however, considering that up until now the loitering had only resulted in relatively small outbursts of criminal mischief. "I couldn't believe it. I was shocked, " Muller-Hillman said when she learned of the assault. "I think it's horrible. I think it's disgusting, to tell you the truth."
The East Meadow School District tries to work with local police in keeping teenagers off school grounds after dark, according to Superintendent Robert Dillon. A security guard hired by the district patrols all the schools year round, he said. "We try to do the best we can," Dillon said. "We're not a police force. We try to work with what we have."
Dillon went on to note that it's particularly difficult to keep teenagers out of Parkway, since the back of the school's property abuts the Wantagh Parkway. There's only one way in, and patrolmen have a difficult time spotting loiterers from the street, making it a secluded and ideal hangout.
In the meantime, police said they are going keep a closer eye on the school. "We have stepped up patrols in the area because of this incident," Ude said.
Anyone with information on the July 30 assault at Parkway Elementary School should call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.
