The Saugerties Police Department last Friday, May 3 reported the arrest of a 16-year-old on a felony count of Falsely Reporting an Incident in the 1st Degree for a threat made against the Saugerties Jr./Sr. High School campus earlier that day.
Less than an hour after the regular school day was over, a threat was made against the school, putting the facility into lockdown.
In a message to the community posted to the district website that afternoon, Saugerties Central School District (SCSD) Superintendent Daniel Erceg said the lockdown was lifted after law enforcement searched the campus and found no evidence of a credible threat. He added that support staff would be available on Monday morning for students affected by the incident.
Within hours, the Saugerties Police Department had made an arrest of an unnamed 16-year-old, confirmed by district officials to be a student at Saugerties High School. The student was processed at the Saugerties Police Department and released on an appearance ticket to reappear in the youth part of Ulster County Superior Court at an unspecified date in the future.
At 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 4, Erceg posted an update to the SCSD website, confirming the arrest, sharing few details.
“As this is a police matter, any questions related to the arrest would need to be directed to law enforcement,” Erceg said, adding that in addition to facing criminal consequences, the student would also be disciplined in accordance with the district’s code of conduct.
“There is no tolerance for this type of behavior,” said Erceg in the statement.
Erceg thanked the Saugerties Police Department, the New York State Police, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, school resource officer Travis Winchell and Erik Thiele, security guard, for the quick work investigating the incident.
“We’ll be meeting with the Saugerties Police Department next week for a debriefing meeting to review the incident, reflect on how the incident unfolded and determine if any of our practices need to be modified based on what we learned,” Erceg said. “I understand how frightening yesterday’s incident was and hope this update restores the sense of safety that we strive to create in our schools. I want to assure you that safety continues to be our first priority and a responsibility we take very seriously. I appreciate our students and staff who responded as we have practiced.”
As of press time, no further details were revealed by district officials or law enforcement.
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