Juvenile charged with assaulting officer

BY DENISE SHERMAN, EWN


KNIGHTDALE - A Knightdale High School student was charged last Tuesday with assaulting a police officer after he refused to take off gang-related paraphernalia.
Knightdale School Resource Officer Mark Batey said the 17-year-old student was charged as a juvenile. Police would not release his identity because of his age.
He said the student refused to take off blue rosary beads and a blue glove, both symbols of Southside 13, a national gang with branches in Knightdale.
Batey said Wake County school system has a no-tolerance policy regarding gang-related clothing, symbols and other paraphernalia. He said he asked the teen to remove the rosary and he refused. When Batey reached for the rosary, the teen grabbed his arm, he said.
He released the young man to the custody of his mother and talked to her about how to recognize gang activity, Batey said.
Batey said the rosary beads have been co-opted by gangs as a symbol -- something he began to research after he noticed colorful rosaries showing up where beads had once been used to represent gang loyalties. The school has been taking beads for some time, Batey said.
In addition to the altercation with the student, the high school had a spate of gang-related graffiti on school athletic facilities over the weekend, Batey said.