UPDATE: 5 teens charged in beatdown
A selfless Bayonne teacher sacrificed her own body, throwing herself on top of a defenseless boy to protect him from a vicious attack by at least four other boys Tueday afternoon as dozens looked on in disbelief.
The teacher, 56-year-old Cathy Hurley, is credited with possibly saving the boy’s life in the incident outside the William Shemin Midtown Community School, where she teaches special education.
Her daughter, Frankie Sielski, said she was told the boy was rushed to a local hospital with serious injuries.
A 28-second video of the incident shows four boys ― believed to be Bayonne High School students ― punching and kicking the victim on the ground as a group of people, mostly students, look on. A crossing guard is seen running into an open door, likely telling someone to call the police.
One attacker backs off, and another is seen jumping off a bike, getting in a few kicks, and then jumping back on the bike and fleeing.
As the beating continues, Hurley is seen running toward the kids in a futile attempt to stop their intense blows and kicks. She then is seen throwing herself on top of the boy and the attackers take off down the street.
“My mom said ‘I don’t know why they didn‘t kick me.’ She was like, ’Why did they stop?’ Her thought process was like ‘these kids don’t even know I am in here.’ So she just decided to lay on the kid,” Sielski said.
Sielski said her mother told her she was walking to her car when the assailants brushed past her ― and she instinctively knew something didn’t seem right.
“‘You’re not going to fight, right? You‘re not going to fight, right?’ Hurley told the group, according to her daughter.
Hurley ― who was still too shaken to be interviewed for this story ― was getting into her car when she heard a commotion and she turned back to see the brutal attack.
Hurley told her daughter ‘I did what anybody would have done,’” Sielski said. “I told my mom, ‘There was a crowd of people. No one else did anything!’”
While so many looked on Hurley tried to separate the kids without touching any of them. It didn’t work.
“As a teacher, she was worried about putting her hands on a student and possibly losing her job,” Sielski said. “She was screaming ‘I called the cops! I called the cops!’ thinking that would get the kids to stop.”
It didn’t, so she threw herself on top of the boy.
Sielski said the school administration sent a letter to its staff Thursday, citing Hurley’s “fearlessness.”
“She was the only adult to enter the situation, trying to pull the attacker off the victim and finally laying on top of the student, to use her body as a shield,” the letter said. “Her dedication to our students, her motherly instincts and her Hudson County fearlessness tie for a close second to her kind and compassionate heart.”
District officials did not respond to a request for comment on the incident, but Sielski said the district is expected to recognize her mother’s bravery.
Hurley was not injured in the incident, but she was left quite shaken, her daughter said.
Bayonne police did not respond to requests for information on the incident, but it is believed that they know identity of the assailants.
This report was updated to correct the date of the assault.