Guard allegedly roughed up student

A Long Beach High School security guard was dismissed after he was involved in a physical altercation with a student whom he allegedly placed in a chokehold when the teen was slow to get off his cell phone and directed foul language at the guard.

The incident occurred on Nov. 10, when the senior, Dylan Denker, was asked by the school security guard to remove his hat and hood and to stop using his cell phone. Dylan’s mother, Jaye, said that her son was on the phone with his father because he had forgotten to take his lunch money from home.

When Denker signaled to the security guard that he would be off the phone shortly, his mother said, the guard “lost it,” grabbing him and throwing him up against a locker in a third-floor hallway.

“I believe [Dylan] held his finger up for a second to say that he was getting off the phone, and that must have enraged the security guard because he came over and grabbed Dylan by the front of his shirt,” Jaye Denker said, adding that her son yelled, “Let me go!”

In a statement, School Superintendent Dr. Robert Greenberg said that the guard, who was not named, “contained” Denker and brought him to the dean’s office after the guard asked him to adhere to district policy and remove his hat and hood and stop using his cell phone. Denker, Greenberg said in the statement, responded with foul language and racial slurs, and attempted to assault the guard.

Greenberg said that school officials immediately contacted the Nassau County Police Department and Denker’s parents. School officials said that while Denker was not injured, he was taken to an area hospital for evaluation as a precaution and was later released.

Jaye Denker said that her son sustained a bruise on his ribs and some scrapes around his neck. As the guard walked Dylan to the dean’s office, she said, the guard “tightened his grasp” until he brought him inside. “There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever by this man to handle Dylan in this way,” she said. “I think Dylan was just very shocked by how aggressive this security guard was.”