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“[It] sucks that the most devastating things can happen upon the people who deserve it the least,” a PHS classmate wrote. “it’s jus[t] not fair.”
The boy apparently went up to the front of the class to speak to the teacher when he collapsed sometime before 1:30 p.m.
The instructor tried to prop him up as others rushed to get help, but the boy apparently became unresponsive.
“I was there when the chaos started happening,” wrote a student whose locker is across from the classroom. “Everyone in the class [was in] the hallway. The door got shut.
“I see teachers, staff members, police officers, paramedics running back and forth [down] the hallway.”
Twenty minutes later, she said, emergency workers brought him out on a gurney.
The boy was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
District officials sent private texts to parents and others with information about preparations for tomorrow’s school day: These will include not only grief counseling for students, faculty and staff but also a morning news conference scheduled by Schools Superintendent Joseph Lupo.
Word spread quickly today. And while grief for anyone who passes is extremely painful, particularly when it involves someone so young, this was a death that brought many to tears — and tributes.
Those who knew him touched on how kind the tall teen was to others. They spoke of a gentle giant who never poked fun at anyone — except, at times, himself.
“He took the younger students under his wing,” one of them told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “He was so sweet.”
“He always cared about others,” said another.
The New York City-bred teen liked wrestling and baseball, particularly his hometown New York Mets. He had genuine artistic talent — a trait that most who talked about him mentioned.
They also cited his compassion for others, including animals.
A fellow member of the school’s Paramus Animal Welfare Society said:
“He’d always help me with the cutouts for the billboards in the hallways and was such a gentleman. He’d carry the supply box for me, complimented my artwork & open doors for me whenever possible.”
He once called himself “very shy around people I don’t know,” but “once I get to know someone I love to talk.”
He worked at a Bergen County game shop and was a video genius of sorts, one who took a keen interest not only in playing the most challenging games — and attending various related events — but in the implications of the Internet for the world at large.
At times introspective, he wrote eloquently about opposing proposed measures in Washington, D.C. to severly curb what one posts online, to the point of possible criminal charges, in addition to fines. Yet he also had a playful sense of humor that made others comfortable around him.
Among his favorite quotations:
“To the world you may just be one person, but to one person you could be the world.”
“The nicest and sweetest kid I EVER knew,” one of his friends said tonight. “Had amazing talents and an amazing heart.”
One mother wrote an open note to his parents:
“There is nothing I can say that would make this even a tiny bit better and I know that. [He] and his family are in my prayers. Please know that although we cannot take away a morsel of your pain, we all care about you and want you to know that.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: I am keeping a commitment I made earlier today to not identify the boy in any way that would be recognizable to a stranger. Those identifiers that appear here are known to those already aware of today’s incomprehensible tragedy. I offer my deepest condolences to all of his loved ones, friends and others touched by his gentle soul.
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