Family Files $2M Notice Of Claim To LI School After Student Attacked

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — A Long Island family announced notice of claim of $2 million to Central Islip School District after they said their 14-year-old daughter was attacked by another student on school property.

Family attorney Kenneth Mollins told Patch that on March 17, his ninth-grade client was attacked from behind by a female assailant as she walked down a hallway of Central Islip High School. Video captured by a friend of the attacker shows the assailant punching the girl in the back of the head, then continue punching her as she fell to the floor.

The day before, the attacker threatened the client's friend, Mollins said. The victim told her friend to leave the situation, angering the attacker.

"This was an intentional, premeditated assault," Mollins said.

In the video obtained by Patch, the attacker's friend encourages the assailant to attack the girl, saying there were "no teachers" in the hallway.

The girl was sent to South Shore University Hospital with a "pretty" bad nosebleed, and was diagnosed with a "serious" concussion.

The attacker, also 14-years-old, was arrested and charged with third-degree assault and was released to her mother, Suffolk County police said.

Mollins said the victim has not returned to school since the incident, and suffers from dizziness, wrist pain and headaches.

"She's afraid to go back," Mollins said.

While the notice of claim is a warning of a lawsuit, Mollins told Patch that it's important to prevent this incident from happening to other students.

" The real reason for the notice of claim was to send a message to the school that this won't be tolerated," he said. "That this type of activity has to be stopped."

Mollins also said that Ezra Hoyte, the student's father, was "horrified" to learn of the incident.

"I send my kid to school, I expect her to be safe," Mollins told Patch of Hoyte's reaction.

Patch has reached out to Central Islip School District for comment.