A 16-year-old boy from North Riverside who was a junior at Riverside-Brookfield High School was expelled last week after an incident in November in which the boy reportedly struck a Riverside community service police officer and a school administrator school, officials confirmed on Monday.
The incident occurred on Nov. 14. The boy was arrested and was charged with three felony counts of aggravated battery and one count of misdemeanor battery, according to Riverside Assistant Police Chief Thomas Weitzel.
“A kid cannot stay when something like this happens,” said Principal/Superintendent Jack Baldermann.
The incident began when the student got upset when another student was throwing wads of paper at him in a classroom manned by a substitute teacher. The two students got into a fight, and the substitute teacher called for help.
Bill Niesluchowski, Riverside’s community service officer, who is a civilian employee of the police department, happened to be at RB at the time issuing tickets for smoking. Niesluchowski, RB security officer Craig Geans and Dean of Students David Sibley tried to detain the student.
According to the police report the student pushed and hit Niesluchowski. The student also allegedly pushed and shoved Sibley.
Weitzel said it is an automatic felony to strike school personnel on school grounds and to strike a police officer.
Weitzel said the juvenile is charged with two counts of aggravated battery to a school employee and one count of aggravated battery to a police officer. These are Class 4 felonies that can lead to one to three years in prison, Weitzel said. He also noted that the juvenile, if found guilty, could also be eligible for probation. The student was also charged with a misdemeanor count of battery. The student was released later on the day of the incident to his father.
Baldermann said that the juvenile has been placed in an alternative school in Oak Park.
Baldermann said the student had no previous history of discipline problems and was a average student who was in his first year at RB after his family was forced to leave Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina hit last year.
“He is not a bad kid,” said Baldermann. “He just made some bad choices.’
