Sixty-two New Jersey high school students were arrested for a “senior prank” that went horribly awry. The students stand accused of urinating in hallways, flipping over desks, slathering petroleum jelly on door handles, hanging toilet paper, and perpetrating other forms of damage to their school building.
At 2:30 AM on May 1, roughly ten separate police agencies responded to a burglar alarm at Teaneck High School in Teaneck, New Jersey. The officers arrived in time to see students still rampaging through the school through the windows; police also watched on the school’s closed-circuit TV in real time as the students ran amok.
Police arrived to see “desks flipped over, chairs broken, graffiti on the walls, silly string on the floors and balloons throughout the building.”
Officers used police dogs to track down students attempting to hide to evade capture. “It is possible that a few got away, but the majority were caught,” Teaneck Police Chief Robert Carney told the Associated Press.
While 62 students were arrested, 38 of those apprehended were 18 or under and were released to their parents. All face criminal mischief and burglary charges.
Students told police that it was a “senior prank” on the school, but Police Sgt. John Garland was not amused. “They’re learning the hard way that it’s not too funny,” Garland said.
School principal Dennis Heck expressed profound disappointment, and Superintendent Barbara Pinsak told the media that the school is now weighing its options on what to do with the students.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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