ALMOST MISSED ATTACK
HS stab vic says he nearly skipped class
Ariane LaBoy almost skipped class the day a knife-wielding classmate claimed the life of his best friend and nearly his own.
The teen looked nervous Tuesday as he took the stand in the manslaughter trial of Abel Cedeno, and recounted the terrifying scene at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation on Sept. 27, 2017.
Cedeno, now 19, an oftbullied bisexual student at the high school, is accused of plunging his blade into LaBoy and 15-year-old Matthew McCree during a third period history class in a bloody attack that left LaBoy in a coma for two days and McCree dead.
LaBoy said he ultimately thought better of skipping class since he needed a passing grade, then sat by McCree in the back row. Cedeno, who sat in front of him, bumped his desk, left the room for a few minutes, then returned and bumped it again.
A few seconds later, the classroom erupted in chaos and horror.
“Somebody throws something at him, a pen or a pencil. I don’t know. … He said, ‘Who threw that in the back?’, and Matt said, ‘I threw it, but I didn’t mean to hit you,’” LaBoy recounted. “I ignored it. I laughed it off.”
Cedeno didn’t let it go and told McCree to fight, he said. “I saw them having words. I got off my chair,” he said. “But really, Abel charged at Matt.”
He testified that he didn’t know Cedeno had a knife.
“Matt turned around and was facing me and was holding his chest. When I saw him touching his chest, I got up,” he said. He confronted Cedeno, and they fought for a few seconds before the teen stabbed him, he said.
“I looked down, there was a hole in my chest. … When [Cedeno] saw me look up, he stabbed me in the same spot,” he said.
LaBoy said he remembered telling people after the attack to keep his eyes open.
“Did you ever see your friend Matthew again?” Assistant District Attorney Nancy Borko asked.
“At the funeral,” he responded.
Cedeno’s lawyer Robert Feldman, who in 2016 was dressed down by a judge for calling a victim a “lying stoned retard,” asked LaBoy whether he was under the influence of “benzos,” and accused LaBoy of “nodding out” during moments in his testimony where he was crying.
Judge Michael Gross shut Feldman down, calling his tone “mocking, harassing — for no apparent reason.”
Tuesday’s proceedings also included dramatic testimony from Nicholas Kennedy, the former teacher who witnessed the bloody attack.
“I remember shouting the whole time and telling them not to do it,” Kennedy testified inside a Bronx courtroom. “I realized I had blood all over my clothes and hands. … Matthew sort of backed away, and he was holding his stomach and there was a lot of blood.”
Prosecutors also played another confession tape in court, showing Cedeno, emotionless, as he discussed the weapon he used and the hours before the killing.
He said several times during the interview that he was “mad” at McCree and LaBoy for throwing pencils at him, though he also admitted the two teens had never before caused him trouble.
A lawyer representing LaBoy in a civil lawsuit against the Department of Education blamed the agency’s hierarchy and Kennedy for the attack.
“Obviously it’s very clear the Department of Education has blood on their hands of my client and Matthew , - ney Matthew Blit. “So far, the testimony clearly demonstrates there’s no procedures in place to protect our children. [Kennedy] failed to take any energetic steps to intervene to stop the fight from happening.
“All he did is put his hands on his shoulder. That’s unacceptable. He had students crossing in front of him. All he had to do was prevent a student from going at another student.”
Cedeno’s defense team insists he was only protecting himself when he stabbed McCree and LaBoy, stating that the attack followed years of relentless bullying and torture over Cedeno’s sexuality. They also point the finger at school officials.
“We agree with the other side when they say there was a lack of control in the school and in this classroom,” said Cedeno’s civil attorney Tom Shanahan. “For six years, because he was gay or perceived as gay, he was abused in three schools.”