Central Islip HS student suffered 'serious and severe injuries' during attack, say court papers filed ahead of $2 million lawsuit

A Central Islip Senior High School student suffered “serious and severe injuries” after another girl allegedly attacked her from behind on March 17 as she walked to class, according to a notice of claim filed Monday in advance of a potential $2 million lawsuit.

Ezra Hoyte, the father of the 14-year-old victim, said he will file the lawsuit to push the Central Islip Union Free School District and Central Islip Board of Education to take steps to stop bullying and beef up security. The school district and the board of education will be named as defendants when the lawsuit is filed later this year. 

“She’s supposed to go to school to learn and to get an education, not to be attacked or assaulted from behind,” Hoyte said of his daughter, a ninth-grader, during a news conference Wednesday at the Hauppauge office of his attorney, Kenneth M. Mollins. 

Central Islip school officials said they could not comment on pending litigation. The district, they added in a statement, believes student safety is paramount and takes “proactive approaches” to create a conflict-free climate.

The alleged attack on the girl, identified in the notice of claim as “K.H.,” comes amid a spate of violent conflicts in Long Island schools. 

A 13-year-old boy was allegedly stabbed and critically wounded on Monday by another student at Lindenhurst Middle School, Suffolk police said. Nassau police arrested a Hempstead girl who allegedly slashed two students with a box cutter Monday at Uniondale High School. 

Five teens threatened a Riverhead High School student with a knife on Tuesday during a robbery attempt, and cut him in the chest as he walked from the campus to a shopping plaza, according to Riverhead police 

“This case is really being brought to say something must be done about the violence happening in our schools,” Mollins said about the Central Islip lawsuit.

The Central Islip assault was recorded by a male student who instigated the attack, Mollins said, and later posted the video on social media. Other students who witnessed the attack also recorded the assault and failed to intervene. 

“There were no teachers or security in the hallway to prevent this foreseeable attack,” the notice of claim said. 

Mollins said the male student who initiated the attack bullied K.H.’s friend during an art class on March 16. 

“The verbal abuse escalated into threats, and when the threats got significantly closer to violence, my client urged her friend to walk away,” Mollins said.`

An assistant principal and a substitute art teacher were present when the male student made the threats, according to the notice, but they failed to investigate, issue warnings or impose discipline. 

K.H. was walking to class at 9 a.m. on March 17 when she was punched from behind in the hallway of Central Islip Senior High School, the notice of claim said.

“You want to fight her, then go,” one person said to another on the video the attorney made available to reporters. “There’s no teachers here.” 

The video shows a girl running up to the victim and then punching her repeatedly from behind. 

“Bam, bam, bam,” one student — identified by Mollins as the male instigator — said with each punch thrown by the assailant. 

Suffolk police said a 14-year-old girl was arrested after punching another Central Islip student in the face on March 17. “The arrestee was charged with assault 3rd degree and was released to her mother,” police said in a statement. 

Hoyte said K.H. has not returned to school since the attack. She continues to have pain in her head and wrist and has difficulty breathing and sleeping. 

“She’s nonconfrontational; she doesn’t fight,” Hoyte said of his daughter. “This is the first time she has been assaulted like that.”