Ansonia police released a prepared statement “clarifying” information about an October incident during which a high school student allegedly pledged support to ISIS during the school’s pledge of allegiance.
The police statement came two days after the Valley Indy published a story about the incident.
The afternoon after the Valley Indy story was published, the Connecticut Post published a story on the incident which was aggregated by the Associated Press, and has since been published online as far away as the UK’s Daily Mail and Belfast Telegraph.
Ansonia Police Lt. Andrew Cota, the department’s spokesman, told the Valley Indy Thursday he’s since been fielding calls from far and wide about the incident, which occurred Oct. 9 at the high school.
“I am sending this email to clarify recent information that has been circulating about a student from Ansonia High who allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS while at school,” Cota’s statement said.
“The Ansonia Police received a complaint from the Ansonia High School Administrators on October 9 of 2015,” the statement said. “The SRO (school resource officer) completed a report and we forwarded it off to Homeland Security as we would with any case that we feel needs to be brought to their attention. We are no longer investigating this matter.
“The allegation is that the male was allegedly making pro ISIS statements during the Pledge of Allegiance,” Cota’s statement went on. “As this is a juvenile matter there is no other information being released.”
The incident came to light this month after the student’s parent complained at a Board of Education meeting about the way officials handled the case.
Superintendent Carol Merlone referred questions about the case to the school board’s lawyer, who said school officials reached out to police “out of an abundance of caution.”
The parent declined to speak to the Valley Indy this week.
Cota repeated Thursday that no federal law enforcement officials have reached out to Ansonia cops since the incident occurred.
“We looked at it, we said ‘There’s no crime here, we’re not arresting anybody,’ but just like we would do with any case, we forwarded it to Homeland Security, just so they have it, so they have a record of it,” Cota said.
