East Brunswick High School: Teen Charged After Fight Over Hijab

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — Update 3:10 p.m. April 11: East Brunswick police and the Middlesex County prosecutor's office investigated and the teen who allegedly pulled another teen's headscarf has now been charged with simple assault and cyber harassment. She was not, however, charged with a bias or hate crime, although the investigation continues.

The alleged fight originated Wednesday morning in a student lounge at East Brunswick High School and it started when two teen girls began arguing over a seat, said East Brunswick schools superintendent Dr. Victor Valeski. This was before classes started for the day.

The verbal disagreement escalated into a physical fight and both girls got physical with each other, said Valeski.

One of the girls involved is Muslim and wears a traditional head covering. In the course of the altercation, the other teen pulled that teen's headscarf off, he said. She also made a comment that referenced the other girl's Muslim religion.

"An assault is when one person is attacked. This was not an assault, it was a fight," said the superintendent. "One student initiated the fight and I don't want to identify which student it was. Words were exchanged and it escalated. However, things were stated during this fight that are beyond what the district considers acceptable."

Valeski said he did not personally witness the fight and his assessment of the scenario was confirmed by East Brunswick High School principal Dr. Michael Vinella. Both men spoke on the phone to Patch Thursday morning about the incident.

After the altercation, the girl who pulled the other teen's headscarf took to Instagram to continue the feud, taunting the other teen. A post shared by a parent in an East Brunswick Facebook group shows the teen saying "That's ok, b****, because your raghead a** got your a** beat." It's unconfirmed if that was posted by the teen in question.

As is required by law, Valeski referred the case to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office to investigate. Valeski said he is required to report any incidents of possible hate or bias crimes to the police.

East Brunswick police and the county prosecutor quickly investigated, and announced Thursday afternoon that the girl who pulled the headscarf has been criminally charged. She charged with simple assault, harassment, cyber harassment and disorderly conduct.

She was not charged with a bias or hate crime. However the county prosecutor "continues to investigate the incident pursuant to Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s Bias Incident Investigation Standards," said a spokeswoman for the prosecutor.

The teen who had her headscarf pulled was not charged with any wrongdoing.

Both girls have since been disciplined by the school district and neither girl is in school on Thursday, said the superintendent. He said he was not at liberty to speak more about their punishments, as they are both minors under the age of 18. However, contrary to rumors circulating online, neither girl has lost privileges to walk at graduation this spring.

Several students posted video of the fight to social media, and Valeski said they are being identified by the district and will be disciplined. He said all East Brunswick public school students sign a waiver agreeing they will not broadcast video of fights to social media, because it violates student privacy.

Was this a bias crime?

At the moment, the Middlesex County prosecutor's office does not think so, although their investigation does continue. Coincidentally, New Jersey's Attorney General just updated his instructions last week, on April 5, for how the state's police officers should investigate possible bias incidents.

Section 10 of that directive, which you can read here, directs police officers to look for the following:

10. GUIDELINES FOR CONFIRMING BIAS INCIDENTS

To assist law enforcement officers in confirming whether a suspected bias incident is actually motivated by bias, the following criteria shall be applied. These criteria are not all-inclusive. Common sense judgment must also be applied in the final determination.

Motive
1. The absence of any other apparent motive for the bias incident.
2. Display of any bias symbols, words, graffiti, or other types of evidence.
3. Statements made by the suspects.
4. Statements made by the witnesses.
5. Prior history of similar incidents in the same area affecting the same victim or community group.
6. A common sense review of the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident. Consider the totality of the circumstances.
When the above criteria are applied, it may be helpful to ask the following questions:
1. Is the victim from one racial, religious, or ethnic group and the suspect from another?
2. Did the incident occur solely because of a bias against the victim by the actor involving a status or class protected under N.J.S.A. 2C:16-1, or for other reasons?
3. Is the victim the only member of a particular protected class or status under N.J.S.A. 2C:16-1 in the neighborhood, or one of a few?
4. Did the victim recently move into the area?

5. Is the victim acquainted with neighbors and/or associated with local community groups?
6. What was the trademark (M.O. of the actor)? Is it similar to other documented bias incidents?
7. Has the victim experienced past or repeated incidents of a similar nature?
8. Is there a connection between the date of the incident and holidays, school activities or other special public discussions or events?
9. Has there been prior or recent media coverage of similar incidents?
10. Is there an ongoing neighborhood problem that may have contributed to the event?
11. Does the M.O. signify a “copycat” of other incidents?
12. Is an organized hate group indicated in the incident?
a. Is hate literature involved? What type is it?
b. Is there any documented or suspected organized hate group activity in the area?
c. Was organized group involvement actually present or made to appear so?
13. Were the real intentions of the actor to commit a bias incident or were there other motives?
14. Does the actor have a true understanding of the impact of the bias incident on the victim?
15. Was the victim put in fear due to the incident?
16. Did the victim feel threatened due to the incident?

"If after applying these criteria and asking the appropriate questions, a suspected bias incident cannot be definitively determined to be any other type of incident or is a borderline case, it should be treated as a bias incident for continuing investigation purposes," according to the AG's office.

Superintendent sent this message home to parents Thursday morning, the day after the fight

On Thursday morning, Dr. Valeski sent the following email to East Brunswick parents about the incident:

A message from EAST BRUNSWICK PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Dear East Brunswick School Community,

I want to inform the school community of an incident that occurred yesterday at East Brunswick High School and has been inaccurately re-reported on social media: Yesterday morning, before the beginning of the instructional day, a disagreement between two students, over a seat in a common area at the high school, quickly escalated into an exchange of words and a physical altercation.

Ultimately, the fight was determined to be a bias incident and was immediately reported to the East Brunswick Police Department and the County Prosecutor’s Office in accordance with Board Policy #8465 (Hate Crimes and Bias-Related Acts) and the law.

The East Brunswick Public School District values our diverse student body and community. The District does not tolerate any incidents of bias, discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying and takes swift action if such an event occurs.

I want to assure the East Brunswick Community that we have been, and will continue to be, deeply committed to promoting and maintaining a safe environment for all of our students and staff.

Sincerely,

Dr. Victor P. Valeski
Superintendent of Schools

The county prosecutor and East Brunswick police did not yet answer when asked if any criminal charges have been filed. Did you witness the fight? If so, and you would like to talk about what you witnessed, email carly.baldwin@patch.com. Or you can call Detective Brian Adams of the East Brunswick Police Department at (732) 390-6900 or Detective Tammy Colonna of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-3145.