Uniondale High School student stabbed during fight, Ryder says

A 17-year-old Uniondale High School student was stabbed multiple times on school property Monday afternoon by a 15-year-old former student who is now under arrest, Nassau police said.

The victim was moved from intensive care at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow and is expected to survive, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said during an afternoon news conference outside the school.

The suspect arrived at the school on a bicycle while the victim was waiting with a group of students to board the school bus about 2:45 p.m., according to Ryder. The 15-year-old was knocked off his bike, the teens began to fight and the older teen was stabbed in the neck, back and stomach, the commissioner said

Neither teen was identified, although Ryder said the suspect was a former student at the high school and the boys appeared to know each other.

School officials and a school resource officer began administering first aid and called an ambulance to the school.

The 15-year-old boy fled the scene on his bicycle and was arrested shortly before 4 p.m. after leading officers on a foot chase in Hempstead, Ryder said.

He has been charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and will be arraigned Tuesday in Nassau County Family Court, police said in a release. 

"I just want the community to understand the response from the police department working with the school district was exactly as we practiced," Ryder said.

Uniondale superintendent Monique Darrisaw-Akil, in a letter to parents and guardians, said "The Uniondale School District has a zero-tolerance policy for instances of violent or aggressive behavior of any kind," adding that student safety is the district's "number one priority."

A representative for the district did not immediately respond to a question about how the 15-year-old got on campus.