Police on Tuesday arrested a popular Brooklyn marching band’s instructor for allegedly taping shut the mouth of a young boy. He reportedly caused a 9-year-old boy to suffer a cracked, bloody lip and swelling.
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The judge also issued an order of protection, presumably for the child.
Police say 39-year-old Kenyatte Hughes placed the tape over a student’s mouth at I.S. 292 after the child was being disruptive in class. “I was going to put it on my own mouth but did not”.
In a Criminal Court hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors asked for bail to be set at $20,000.
Hughes has led the Soul Tigers Marching band based at Intermediate School 292 for more than a decade. A 12-year-old student named Joseph whom the New York Times talked to said Hughes “was just playing around”, that the boy was laughing as Hughes applied the tape, and that he seemed okay afterwards. It was not immediately clear when the alleged assault happened. This year, the band lost its rehearsal space at the school because, Hughes suspected, of ill will between the new principal and his dad, her former boss.
“These charges are deeply troubling”, said Devora Kaye.
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Under Hughes’ tutorship, the Soul Tigers gained a reputation as an outstanding band, and performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and in Africa and Central America, and was even featured in a Tommy Hilfiger commercial.
