Eight New York City public school students, believed to be between the ages of eight to 10, were taken to a hospital Thursday after apparently being shocked when two individuals fired, what police are describing, as some sort of "taser device" that hit the fence.
Two men in their 20s were in the schoolyard for P.S. 305 in Ridgewood when they allegedly deployed some type of taser device that struck a fence, police initially said.
Eight kids, ages 8 and 9 years old, were apparently leaning against the fence when the incident took place, police say. The children were taken to Wyckoff Hospital to get checked out. Police say the children suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Local 237, which also represents school safety agents, said that children, ages 6 to 8, were taken to Wyckoff Hospital after someone tased the fence they were leaning up against around 12:30 p.m.
In a statement, the city's Department of Education issued a statement saying: “The safety of our students is paramount and school safety immediately responded to an incident during recess. We are assisting the NYPD with an investigation, and out of an abundance of caution the involved young people were transported to a local hospital with no injuries.”
A 10-year-old whose identity NBC 4 is not sharing because he is a minor says two teens wearing full face masks were standing outside the playground on Dekalb Avenue. He says they beckoned children to come to the fence.
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"They pulled my shirt but they didn’t really cause I hit their hand," he said, adding that other kids weren't so lucky. "They tell the kids to touch the fence and they get shocked."
Local
The school was placed on a soft lockdown, as kids were kept in class while the situation was investigated.
Since the incident unfolded, police told News 4 New York they had given a 15-year-old boy a juvenile ticket for the incident.
However, despite what students have said, police are unclear if the taser device was intentionally deployed.
