Second Assault at P’ville Cottage School Under Investigation
For the second time this month, a Pleasantville Cottage School student was arrested and charged with assaulting a fellow student, Mount Pleasant police said.
Dastina Myers, 17, was arrested on Oct. 21 and charged with second-degree assault, a class D violent felony, after slashing a 16-year-old male student following an argument sometime on Oct. 20, according to police.
Myers was being held in the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla on $7,500 bail. She is scheduled to appear in Mount Pleasant Town Court this Thursday, said Detective Artie Romaine.
Mount Pleasant Police Chief Paul Oliva said his department was investigating why the assault was not reported until the next day. Incidents are supposed to be reported immediately.
Calls to Cottage School spokeswoman Leslie Gottleib were not immediately returned.
The Pleasantville Cottage School is a facility for abused and neglected children run by the Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA). The school houses emotionally troubled boys and girls ages 7-16.
There have been 26 arrests made at the facility, including 10 juveniles, Oliva said. As of Oct. 21, there have been a total of 465 police responses to the facility.
“Officers have been injured when responding, so I have to send two cars,” Oliva said.
On Oct. 13, Liana Brown, 16, was arrested and charged with second-degree assault after stabbing a student with a pair of scissors. She was transported to the county jail on $10,000 bail.
The female victim in that attack, who was under the age of 16, was not seriously injured and has returned to the facility, school officials said.
On Aug. 7, three students – two 19-year-olds and a 17-year-old – were arrested by town police for slashing a 17-year-old student in the face and neck with a box cutter.
In addition, on June 7, four female students under the age of 16 from the Cedar Knolls Residential Treatment Center, another facility run through a different agency, Jewish Community Services of New York, were arrested and charged with assaulting a woman at the Hawthorne train station and stealing her computer and smart phone before fleeing the scene. That case was handled in family court.
Residents have told Oliva that they are afraid to use the Hawthorne station because Cedar Knolls students often congregate there, he said.
Town officials had met with administrators from both facilities and town residents to discuss the recent incidents, he said. More discussions are likely to continue.
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