Utica school board recognizes security officers on hand for post-football fight, shooting

Jeff Lynch, the security officer shot during a fight on Sept. 9, came to Tuesday night’s school board meeting to accept a certificate of recognition from the board.

He was joined by his fellow officers, all dressed in their red uniform shirts, who were also recognized for their efforts to stop the fight that broke out in the parking lot after a Thomas R. Proctor High School football game. One of the combatants had a knife; another had a gun and fired at least two shots, hitting Lynch in the back of the head.

School board President Joseph Hobika noted at the start of the meeting that it was the first of the new school year and that the district had seen a “fairly turbulent 12 months.” The district has weathered the storm well, though, thanks to its excellent employees, he noted.

So the board wanted to thank one particular group of employees, those who tried to stop the post-football fight.

Lynch entered the room and walked up to the board to receive his certificate first while the audience stood and applauded. Asked if he wanted to say anything, Lynch simply stated, “I’d just like to say thank you, thank you to everyone.”

As each security officer entered to get his or her certificate, the audience stood and applauded again until, partway through, it just stayed on its feet until the ceremony ended with Hiram Rios, security and safety director.

“Hiram has conducted himself with the highest degree of professionalism,” Hobika praised him.

The security officers given certificates included: Lynch, Jovane Couvertier, Bruce Klaus, Devin Linsey, Danyelle Boyd, Danielle Washburn, Javon Evans (who did not attend), Dylan Antalek, Joe Plado, Fran Donato, Hannah Stenson, Isiah Patterson and Jeff Jalonack.

The district also had certificates for four Utica Police Department officers who also tried to stop the fight: Officer Zachary Ambrose, Sgt. Kyle Piersall, Officer Jacob Penree and Capt. James Holt. None of the officers attended the meeting.

After the last certificate was handed out, Christine Golden, a high school social studies teacher and vice president at the high school for the Utica Teachers Association, stepped up to the microphone. “I’m here today to say thank you from our staff Proctor to all of you,” she told the security team.

The staff don’t always know how to express their gratitude, she said. But when they first heard about the fight, they thought of their friends and family and then, immediately, the security officers whom everyone knows, she said.

They know the kids and know how to handle difficult situations, Golden said, calling them a “really great crew.”

“In our building,” she added, “they catch things before they boil over.”

Speaking in the lobby outside the meeting room after the presentation ended, the “red shirts,” as the security staff is known in the district, said they didn’t want to talk about “that” night any more. But there is a bond for life between all the officers who were there for the fight, Klaus said.

Giving a security update later in the meeting, Rios said that there was some griping in the community about poor security after “the incident,” a term used by officials several times during the meeting to refer to the fight and shooting.

But he assured board members that the district was as prepared as it could have been. “No amount of planning could have prevented this incident,” he said. “Something like this, you can’t plan for. Unless we’re mind readers, there’s nothing we could have done.”

And Rios spread around the credit for response to “the incident” around. He praised top administrators for being present constantly the evening of the fight and afterwards, making sure everyone got the help and support they needed. He praised officers from the Utica Police Department, the district’s “partners in all,” who tried along with school security to break up the fight and who responded afterwards.

And he thanked the law enforcement agencies who didn’t have to, but chose to send officers to help: the New Hartford Police Department, the Mohawk Valley Community College Department of Public Safety, the New York State Police, the New York Mills Police Department and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office.

“I just want,” he said, “to thank everyone for their support of security.”

Eight minors are facing charges in connection with the fight, including a 17-year-old, who will be tried as an adult, who has been charged with second-degree attempted murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon (on school grounds), criminal possession of a firearm and first-degree criminal use of a firearm.  

The other seven have been charged with second-degree riot and one of them, who allegedly had a knife during the fight, has also been charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.  

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Utica security officers recognized for role in stopping fight