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     Current Issue Highlights Highlights Archive             Get to know your Business Agent today!  Find out how the union makes a difference on the job. |
Newsline: March 2002 SSAs Big Help in Combating Gang Warfare Local 237 President Carl Haynes commended the courageous actions of school safety officers in the Bronx who ignored dangers to themselves to combat gang warfare. "Our uniformed forces proved once again that they put the safety of those they are entrusted to protect above their own," he said. School Safety Agents Steve Albin and Carmelo Perez were scanning students entering Walton High School on Reservoir Ave. in the Bronx at about 9:40 a.m. on Jan. 18 when their radios blared out a call for assistance. The call came from SSA Darryl Dean, stationed at an area on the other side of the school, who alerted them that he had just spotted three young intruders heading toward the scanning section. As they came into view, Perez said, Albin spotted what looked like a weapon in the hand of one of the intruders. The youths spotted the officers and cut into a stairwell that could lead them to an exit through the basement, he said. Albin and Perez took off after the intruders and Albin managed to grab the one who was carrying a weapon. As he did so, he and the youth tumbled down the stairs Albin sustained a laceration on his wrist and bruises to his shoulder and neck, but he managed to hold onto the intruder. He and Perez handcuffed him. Others officers continued the chase after the two others fleeing, but they escaped.youth did not admit to gang membership. He told investigators that one of his friends had been jumped outside of school and beaten, and that he had enlisted reinforcements to seek retribution. An Old Story The January incident followed by less than three months an altercation between the rival Crips and Bloods in which one youth was nearly fatally cut. Perez said he was outside the high school at about 3 p.m. Nov. 2 when he saw about 10 young people dressed predominantly in red, the gang color of the Bloods. They were standing on Jerome Ave. near 195th St. Then he saw another group of youths who began "throwing gang signs" at the group across the street. A fight broke out between the two groups and one youngster was slashed across his left arm so badly that the artery was severed. Perez called for assistance and others joined him in breaking up the gang war. As the officers swarmed in, the gang members took off, he said. SSA 3 Faye Peterkin and SSA 2 Brian Caballero who were on patrol in a radio car, also arrived at the melee. Perez hopped into the patrol car and told them to follow the fleeing combatants. He knew from past experience that the youths frequently entered a supermarket on Kingsbridge Road through one door and used the rear door to escape. Perez and Caballero entered the store from the main entrance while Peterkin drove around the building to guard the rear. Perez and Caballero collared one of the combatants, a 21-year-old who had a tattoo "Playboy Gangster Crips" along the length of his arm. The injured youth, whose artery was slashed, lost a great deal of blood and might have died were it not for the swift actions of Albin. The officer took the youth's shirt and used it as a pressure bandage to stop the flow. Then the wounded youth was rushed to the hospital where he underwent surgery and remained for three days. The officers involved in the incidents were put in for commendations by school officials. |
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