George Washington High freshmen arrested on assault charges

TWO FRESHMEN at George Washington High School were arrested Friday for assaulting a school police officer in separate incidents, city police and district officials confirmed yesterday.

The students, both 14, were arrested around lunchtime and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and disorderly conduct, police said.

District spokeswoman Raven Hill said one of the students received a 10-day suspension, but she said she did not know the discipline handed down for the other student.

The arrests come four months after school police Sgt. Daryl Giles was found dead at Washington High, on Bustleton Avenue near Verree Road, in the Northeast. Giles suffered a heart attack shortly after breaking up a brawl at the school. Two students involved in the June incident are due in Common Pleas Court later this month, where they will face charges including simple assault and resisting arrest.

Philadelphia police say Friday's incident began in the cafeteria after students crowded around a male student watching a video on a cellphone. The school police officer approached the student with the phone and asked him to turn it over, police said.

"He tells the officer to get the f--- out of here," according to the report, and walks away. The school cop stepped in the student's path and asked him to calm down. The student then pushed the officer "with both palms of his hands and said, 'Get the f--- out of the way.' "

The officer allegedly grabbed the student's wrist and the suspect resisted, police said.

The cop took him into the police office area, near the cafeteria in Washington's basement, when another student entered the office, demanding that the phone be returned, according to police. "Give me my phone. Give me my f---ing phone," he said, according to the police report. The teen was told to leave, but wouldn't. The officer attempted to escort the student outside, the report said.

But the student pushed the officer, telling him, "Don't touch me. Give me my f---ing phone," the report said. The student walked into the hallway, where he yelled more profanities and pushed the officer again before he was arrested, the report said.

Online: ph.ly/DNEducation