Police: Teens Use Racial Slurs, Urinate On Younger Girl At Lawrence High School Football Game
LAWRENCE, N.J. (CBS) -- Residents of Lawrence Township say they are disgusted and shocked after an incident at a Friday night football game. Now, two teenagers are under arrest.
What was supposed to be a thrilling night of football -- homecoming for the Lawrence Cardinals -- turned into an alleged bias incident with two high school seniors facing serious charges.
"It's disgusting," one Lawrence High School student said.
That's essentially the reaction from Lawrence students about what happened Friday.
In a statement, Lawrence Township police say two 17-year-old seniors used racially derogatory names against an eighth-grade student before one of the teens urinated on her.
"Me personally, I'm shocked that that even happened," a student said.
A group of juniors and seniors from the high school who were at the game did not want to be identified. But they say the alleged incident has truly changed the tone at their school.
"It's weird just being at school today because there is a lot of tension in the hallways," one student said.
The school district's superintendent did not return CBS3's calls for comment, but Mayor Chris Bobbitt did.
"I'm shocked and appalled," he said. "I've been heartened by a lot of members of the community reaching out to me and saying 'what can I do to help?'"
Bobbitt also says he's glad at how quickly Lawrence Township detectives worked the case, filing harassment, bias intimidation and lewdness charges against the suspects.
"When they were able to bring two suspect in, I was really proud of the work they had done," Bobbitt said.
"It's not my place to say [what should happen to them]. I know both of them, I'm just shocked they did it," a student said.
There are still many unanswered questions about the incident.
The mayor is holding a news conference about what happened on Tuesday at 9 a.m. The police chief and superintendent will also be there.
