A New York City high school principal was attacked by a student on Monday after he told the teen to remove his headphones, police said.
The New York Post reported that Matthew Tossman, principal of the Manhattan Early College School for Advertising, saw Luis Penzo walking through the hallway with music blazing from his headphones. Penzo, 18, refused to turn down the music when Tossman told him to, police said.
The teen attacked the principal, punching him several times in the face, the Post reported. Tossman suffered cuts and swelling around both of his eyes, for which he was treated and released from a local hospital.
A statement from a spokesman for the New York City Department of Education said that the attack was unprovoked.
Penzo has been charged with felony second-degree assault, New York City jail records showed. He was still jailed on Wednesday in lieu of $5,000 bail.
The Department of Education earlier released a statement, saying that New York police responded immediately to the incident, and that the safety and security of students and staff is officials’ top priority, the Post said.
Manhattan Early College School for Advertising, located inside Murry Bergtraum High School, is in its second year of existence. It sits next to One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan.
Monday's incident is not Penzo's first skirmish with the law, the Post reported. He was charged with assault and harassment last month after he allegedly punched another driver repeatedly following a car crash.
Murry Bergtraum High School also has a checkered history. It was the location of a brawl in 2012 involving dozens of its students.
See video about the Manhattan Early College School for Advertising below.
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