BY LINDSAY FABER. STAFF WRITER
Newsday (New York)
A girl whose unruly actions at a school dance preceded the death of a veteran school safety agent Friday was charged with harassment and resisting arrest and was sent home to her family, law enforcement officials said yesterday.
The 12-year-old girl, identified by city officials as Stephanie R., is to appear in Brooklyn Family Court tomorrow morning. Lawyers for the city’s corporation counsel will decide whether to amplify the charges against her, said Laurence Busching, chief of the Family Court Division of the city Law Department.
The agent, Vivian Samuels, 56, of Downtown Brooklyn, a school security worker since 1981, was working at MS 390 in Crown Heights when she escorted the child away from the school Christmas party about 5:50 p.m. Friday, police said. Stephanie began flailing her arms and hit Samuels at least once in the head, police said.
The agent began to hyperventilate and complained of chest pains, according to police. She died moments later in the ambulance on the way to Kings County Hospital Center, her family said.
Samuels’ two sons recalled her yesterday as a “generous” and “wonderful” person whom they looked to for wisdom.
“She could light up your day,” said Ronnique Benjamin, 23, in a telephone interview. “She had a wonderful sense of humor and she always looked out for others more than herself.”
Benjamin said he and his older brother Irving, 32, were simply trying to come to terms with their mother’s death. She had high blood pressure, but no other ailments of which they were aware.
“We’re not angry at this girl as much as we’re just shocked that our mother passed,” said Benjamin. “That we lost our mom is hard enough.”
A spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office said autopsy results were inconclusive. Some test results are pending.
The family, with the help of the Police Department, was in the process of arranging Samuels’ funeral. Arrangements had not been finalized yesterday afternoon.
Samuels, who had worked in the school at least two years, helped found the School Safety Guardians Association, a fraternal order within the NYPD, and worked as the union shop steward for the past 11 years, said Gregory Floyd, secretary-treasurer of Samuels’ union, Teamsters Local 237, and a friend of hers.
“She cared deeply about the children of this city,” Floyd said. “She worked so selflessly you would almost think she was a volunteer.”
The Park Place school has been beleaguered by problems, according to the Department of Education’s Web site. Department statistics show the school, with about 900 students in grades six through eight, had far more crimes last year than others of its size.
“It’s hard to believe this happened,” Benjamin said. “I still think my mother is going to walk through the door.”
Photo - Vivian Samuels was recalled as “generous” an “selfless.”
December 18, 2005