Bayonne teacher uses body as human shied to protect teen from group attack

Friday, October 25, 2024 8:31PM

Teacher in Bayonne acts quickly to save teen in group assaultJanice Yu has the details on a teacher coming to a teen's rescue in Bayonne.

BAYONNE, New Jersey (WABC) -- A teacher in Bayonne is being hailed as a hero after she used her body as a human shield to protect a teenager from a group attacking him.

Cathy Hurley, 56, shielded the defenseless boy outside William Shemin Midtown Community School.

Hurley's daughter, Frankie Sielski, says just moments earlier she had passed the group of teens on her way to her car and asked the boys if they were going to fight. They ignored her.

Sielski says her mom knew something wasn't right when she passed a group of teens.

Just moments later the group threw another teen to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him in the head.

Hurley then acted instinctively- throwing herself on top of the teen victim to shield him.

"This woman, like, appearing from nowhere, right?" said Sielski. "She's not part of the crowd. She appears from nowhere and you lose her. And then the next thing you see is her body on top of them. Like it just really like an angel moment."

Police say the victim was unconscious and taken to the hospital.

Bayonne School District Superintendent John Niesz in a statement said in part, "I can tell you this, that teacher embodies what each and everyone who works and lives in Bayonne is all about."

Sielski added she's proud of her mom, and wasn't surprised by how she reacted the way she did.

"She was raised that way," Sielski acknowledged. "I was raised that way to stick up for the underdog and I know that her responding was an instinct."

Police say five teens ranging in age from 15 to 18 are charged with aggravated assault, endangering an injured victim and riot.