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A 17-year-old Southampton High School senior who was arrested by Southampton Village Police for bringing a shotgun onto school grounds last Wednesday will not be allowed to return to school, Southampton Superintendent of Schools Dr. J. Richard Boyes said on Wednesday morning, following a superintendent’s disciplinary hearing on Tuesday.
The school has agreed, however, to home-tutor the student so that he may graduate with his class in June, according to the teen’s attorney, Brian J. DeSesa of Edward Burke Jr. and Associates in Sag Harbor, who called the outcome of Tuesday’s hearing “fair.”
While the long-term suspension that resulted from that hearing wraps up the teen’s case before the district administration, he still faces criminal charges.
But Mr. DeSesa maintained this week that the shotgun discovered in his client’s car on the morning of October 26 was an inoperable antique gun belonging to a friend that the student forgot was in the car. The teen never intended to threaten anyone, he said.
Police said that under the law, there is no difference between an operable or an inoperable gun, when it comes to filing charges, although it can make a difference in prosecution. They cited case law that requires that a gun be capable of firing a projectile for successful prosecution. The Suffolk County Crime Lab in Hauppauge is testing the gun for operability, police said.
The student, who pleaded not guilty to one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor, during an arraignment last Wednesday, returned to Southampton Village Justice Court on Monday morning, when the case was adjourned until December 5. The courtroom was sealed during the proceeding because of the teen’s age.
“It was an innocent mistake,” Mr. DeSesa said immediately following the adjournment. Seated beside Mr. DeSesa in the lobby was his client, dressed in a white collared shirt with a blue tie and suit jacket, and his client’s father, similarly dressed. The Press is withholding their identities because of the teen’s age.
The teen was arrested after Village Police said they found the unloaded 20-gauge Stoeger shotgun in plain sight on the backseat floor of his 2009 Jeep Wrangler, which was locked and parked in the school parking lot. No ammunition was found in the car.
Shortly after 9 a.m. that day, Superintendent of Schools Dr. J. Richard Boyes said, a school security guard overheard the student talking to another student about the gun. Dr. Boyes said he did not know the nature of the conversation, but said no threats were uttered.
“Security went out to investigate and saw the gun in plain sight in the vehicle,” Dr. Boyes said. The guard stayed until police arrived, the superintendent said.
But according to Mr. DeSesa, the teen never talked to anyone about the gun and remembered it was in the car only when he saw a crowd gathering around the Jeep. “He wasn’t talking about it,” he said.
Police said they received a call from the school’s director of security at 9:49 a.m. Upon arrival at the Narrow Lane school, officers had the student—who was being held by security—unlock the Jeep. Police confiscated the shotgun and said no ammunition was in the Jeep.
The teen, who officers said has a previous arrest record, was taken into custody at 11:44 a.m. in the parking lot and charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. The Jeep was impounded, police said. Officers said the weapon was legally possessed by the student’s friend.
According to Mr. DeSesa, the gun is owned lawfully by the teen’s friend and is a relic of aesthetic value that is part of a collection and does not fire. The student and his friend were watching television together the night before the incident, and the friend left his gun in the teen’s car overnight. Mr. DeSesa said the teen did not realize it was still in the car the next morning when he drove to school, about two blocks away.
Police said last week that they didn’t believe that the student intended to threaten or harm anyone with the gun. “It wasn’t an act of intimidation as far as we know,” Village Police Chief Thomas Cummings said on Thursday. “You never know what’s inside somebody’s head, but there’s no outward indication that that was the intent.”
According to Chief Cummings, the teen was uncooperative with police, but told officers that he had forgotten the gun was in the car and that the weapon belonged to his friend. “I was only transporting it for him,” the teen is quoted as saying in a police report.
The chief said the shotgun was an older model of gun often used for hunting, but police did not investigate whether the teen had a hunting license.
“It’s really not germane because the law simply states you cannot bring a gun onto school grounds,” Chief Cummings said. “It doesn’t matter why. You just can’t do it.”
Dr. Boyes said he could not discuss whether the student has been involved in previous incidents at the school, citing student confidentiality.
The superintendent said he was concerned when he received a call that morning from High School Principal Dr. Timothy Mundell that a gun was on school grounds, but that he felt the matter was being handled appropriately.
No lockdown or other security measures—besides the security officer standing by the vehicle—went into effect and classes were conducted as normal, Dr. Boyes said.
All families in the district were notified of the incident at about 1 p.m. via ConnectEd, a computerized system that can quickly spread messages via phone and email, the superintendent said. The initial message was followed by another stating that police found the gun to be unloaded, he added.
“The gun was never brought into school and no threat was verbalized against anyone in the school,” Dr. Boyes said.
The teen pleaded not guilty at his October 26 arraignment in Southampton Village Justice Court, where Judge Barbara Wilson remanded him to the Suffolk County Jail in Riverside in lieu of $10,000 bail, police said. Bail was posted later that day, according to court officials, and the teen was released.
The student received a five-day suspension until Tuesday’s hearing resulted in a longer-term suspension. Such hearings are uncommon, occurring about twice a year and are reserved for the most serious school infractions, Dr. Boyes said. “Only if guilt is established does it move on to a penalty stage,” Dr. Boyes said. The student’s charge was bringing a gun to school, the superintendent said. He explained that a gun is a gun, inoperable or not.
According to the district’s code of conduct, the minimum period of suspension for students who bring weapons to school is one calendar year, although that can be modified by the superintendent based on several factors, such as the student’s prior disciplinary record and input from parents or teachers.
District administrators did not mention the incident at the School Board meeting on Tuesday night. It was only broached by a district parent, Dan Claud, who commended the security staff for their response.
“In the end, this will be resolved and [his] name will be cleared,” Mr. DeSesa said. “I’m confident of that.”
The teen’s father added, “He’s already suffered tremendously for an honest mistake.”
Staff writer Lisa Finn contributed to the reporting of this article.
