Police investigate alleged misconduct toward special needs student at Athena

Greece police on Wednesday confirmed they are investigating an allegation that three Greece Athena High School students recorded a special needs student doing dehumanizing acts in the high school then posting them to a social media site.

Few details were available as the investigation was just beginning and because all of the accused individuals are juveniles, said Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan.

When contacted Wednesday evening, Phelan acknowledged that an investigation was underway, and confirmed that the allegations involve three Athena students, all younger than 16, who were accused of prompting a special needs student to pull down his pants, grab his crotch and drink urine from a toilet. The students are accused of recording the activity and posting it on Snapchat.

Snapchat is an application that sends text, photo and video messages to contacts which disappear after one to 10 seconds.

Phelan said investigators were notified of the allegations through a call from the Greece Central School District.

Athena principal David Richardson declined comment and deferred questions to district spokeswoman, Laurel Heiden.

The district later issued a statement, which reads:

"Today, the Greece Central School District was made aware of allegations about a serious incident at Athena High School that involved juvenile students and was reportedly captured on video. According to Director of Security Steve Chatterton, an internal investigation was started immediately and Greece Police were called in to determine whether a crime had been committed. The investigation is ongoing.

"Superintendent Barbara Deane-Williams said the allegations are very disturbing. Appropriate discipline will be administered once all of the facts are obtained and the police have completed their investigation."

Phelan stressed that the investigation was in its early stages and that no charges had been filed.

He also could not say the nature of the student's special needs designation, which covers a large variety of issues.

JHAND@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/jonhand1