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Stuyvesant Student Suspected Of Attempted Arson

Is There Overcrowding at Stuyvesant?

A 16-year-old Stuyvesant High School student was caught on camera setting two fires in school bathrooms this week, according to police. Cops arrested junior Mohammed Hassan after obtaining surveillance tapes that apparently show the teen entering a seventh-floor bathroom at 1:13 pm and leaving two minutes later as a trash can went up in flames. At 1:16 pm, a different camera purportedly captures Hassan entering and quickly exiting another bathroom, leaving "bright orange and yellow flames rising out of a large garbage can," according to investigators quoted by the Daily News.

The tabloid notes that the suspect allegedly bragged about setting the fires, and states that a witness spotted a teen fitting Hassan's description enter a bathroom just before one of the fires broke out, then bump into another student as he "hastily" fled. The former math club member has been charged in connection with the two blazes, but he has not been linked to seven other small fires that broke out in the past few days in Stuyvesant stairwells, bathrooms, garbage cans and paper towel dispensers. Details on the charges are a little unclear, as the Post and the Daily News report that Hassan is being charged with setting the fires on Tuesday, though the Times and a later Daily News story claim he is being charged with setting fires on Thursday.

The News notes that if convicted, Hassan could face up to seven years in jail, but his lawyer claims his client is too smart to be an arsonist. "He's a bright kid," said attorney Kevin Faga. "His idea is to go to Harvard and eventually to law school." The suspect's father spoke with reporters outside his Bronx apartment and claimed his child — who according to the Daily News "cowered behind him, hiding his face in the hood of a sweatshirt" after being freed on bail of $2,500 — was "being framed." "This is a false accusation," said Hassan's father, who added that the second fire broke out while his son was in detention. "My boy doesn't know anything about any fires and they don't have any concrete evidence. My son is a good boy."

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Comments [rss]

  • book

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  • Spirit of 76

    Well, to the defenders of the suspect: I guess we'll know when the case goes to court. Obviously, the surveillance video that the police say they have (unless you believe they're making that all up, complete with precise timestamps) will be entered as evidence at the trial.

  • ZK

    The blame being put on Minhaz is entirely because of baseless assumptions. The people who commented above have no idea what they are talking about, since they don't know him at all. I'm his friend, and I know he isn't the type of person to do this. After he was "captured on surveillance," and arrested/suspended, the fires continued occurring in Stuyvesant.



    Don't f'king tell me I'm wrong, because I know, and experienced having to evacuate the building because of a fire after having learned he was suspended. He wasn't in school during the days of the subsequent fires, so there's no way any of those were his doing. If having been seen entering the same bathroom in which the fire started is considered enough proof to convict Minhaz, then I've lost all faith in our criminal trial system.

  • angry_pickle

    Oh please. It is like all those family members who couldn't believe that pilot purposely nose-dive his Egyptian Airline plane into the Atlantic Ocean. They refused to believe it even in the face of huge amounts of reasonable evidence that he did.

  • stopbeingstupid

    "They refused to believe it even in the face of huge amounts of reasonable evidence that he did"



    i don't recall ever seeing the family members of those types of pilots. and there is no reasonable evidence in this case-its simply a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

    also, it is quite immature to compare this to something as large scale as a suicide plane crash.

  • Stewart

    Um, ever hear of a copycat?

  • Spirit of 76

    Could be a copycat. Another possibility is that it's someone trying to deflect blame from the suspect. Funny, back when I went to the specialized schools, I remember there were almost no fire drills or false alarms.

  • Mohammed

    ....adding on ...what videos ...i haven't seen ANY security cameras near he bathrooms at all

  • Dead Himmler

    I feel that you could be a terrorist.

  • stopbeingstupid

    knowing that there are no cameras in a certain place does not make someone a terrorist. Thieves always check for cameras-does that make them terrorists?



    from the point of view of people like you it seems that only muslims are capable of being terrorists. i am sure you made that comment based on the person's name.

    Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a lone attack), and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants. did you forget the events of world war II? the united states must have then committed an act of terrorism on japan by this definition, but they don't discriminate against the u.s. today. then again, you must think its impossible because of the difference in race. the terrorists are not and should not be considered religious peoples; they are people that are misinterpreting words and other people should not be shoved into that category without solid evidence.

  • Kenneth Cheung

    How about i know that u could be a piece of shit?

  • grandslam

    im a stuy alum. the fires happen every year. heard they were a way to get out of taking an exam for a day or something. not sure what the fathers talking about cause theres no "detention"

  • Youguysaregay

    lol yea that parts stupid with the dad, but these people dont no stuy kids, they're not all nerds n watnot. half the ppl are pot heads so wudnt u expect this ?? n even if it was that mohamed kid, that doesnt mean its a terrorist. If it was a white kid wat wud u say then ??

  • ZK

    By "in detention," he means while suspended, obviously...

  • Mohammed

    @ stopbeingstupid...you are absolutely right

    @ the rest of you racist fools , don't talk about charges when all you get is 2nd or 3rd hand "FLAWED" info from the media.



    unless you actually go to Stuyvesant High School (like me) and have some legitimate proof...don't bother saying anything along the lines or "terrorism" or charges for arson



    the "witnesses" are a very flawed source of information that can be easily twisted



    about to the two fires ....at the first one , nowhere did it mention that he through anything in the trashcan

    ...at the second one he could have very well left the bathroom quickly BECAUSE HE SAW THE FIRE IN THERE AND RAN OUT OF THE BATHROOM TO AVOID BEING BURNED (use your brains people)

  • Spirit of 76

    He saw the fire, he ran out, but he didn't report it? I thought Stuyvesant students were supposed to be smart.

  • Youguysaregay

    Ok, stop makin comments about stuy kids like that. We're not all the same. K? Some kids aren't snitches. Not everyone is stuck up n w.e so shut up.

  • David

    to schadenfreudian mensch: I believe your correction is suppose to be "threw" not "throw" in the context of his sentence. Why do i get the sense you are just another angry idiot prowling the internet to start any sort of bias debate with false facts just to get attention.



    But unless you also had to evacuate the building in those weeks or had any kind of briefing to the situations by faculty and especially the students, please don't bash a fellow schoolmate who deserves a life outside of prison (with false charges) but rather in school with friends to achieve his goals in life.



    Even if he did do it (which i doubt) I hope he avoids maximum punishment. Seven years in prison and a ban on all public schools in New York will do no good for any person, especially a 16 year old with proven excellence above others in New York City.



    And if you automatically associated his name to terrorists then you are indeed scum. Get out of America quick boy because it was and will always be a country filled with diversity and accepts all who are different.



    And yes I also attend Stuyvesant.



    to Requiem of the Dark Rose: Its good to see a person on here speak with sense.



    I also want to see him get proven innocent, even if i don't know him personally. One of my friends says that he didn't do it and i trust that persons judgment along with my own doubts he committed the crime.



    to sharpshoota: How's it like to be a bigot. Does your breath reek of the smell of your arrogance or has your brain cells died to escape your stupidity?



    and to all the other racist comments scattered above and below my post: Are you actually for real? You all must be amusing people to hangout with cause i just love people who thinks their hardline. Nothing more than a shell of flesh and insides filled sides with sh*t.

  • sharpshoota

    U f'kin muslims all say the same chit. You guys all deny involvement when you are the ones. We know what you do. Just wait until America gets really tired of you guys....then we will see the witchhunts in the street as you all get you asses beat in the streets of america. No one will save you then and there will be no one to listen to your denials. Yes, we know...Islam means peace.....sure. Brainwashed murderers and future murderers is what you are.

  • Youguysaregay

    wow can u be more ignorant? U dont realize that when u say these things, they dont make u look cool, they make u look stupid as hell.

  • driven

    You're probably a 40-something idiot that is involved in politics until the point of watching the news once a week. Grow the fuck up. Ignorant ass white people think they run the country. Just kill yourself and avoid the misery of living with all the people in this country.

  • Spirit of 76

    Hmm. Ageism, racism, potty mouth and unbridled hatred to the point of urging somebody to kill himself. Very convincing argument you have there.

  • schadenfreudian mensch

    "unless you actually go to Stuyvesant High School (like me)"



    As what? A janitor because your spelling and grammar is really bad.



    If you can't tell the difference between "through" and "throw" I feel really bad about the city's top high school.

  • Youguysaregay

    ok... stuy is just like anyother h.s, we're not nerds, we're just not stupid. dont hate on us jus cuz u cudnt get in. N u guys dont no wat the hell went on in the school, so dont act like u no wat happened. People are jus mad racist these days. they dont have any evidence, the school itself is jus really obsesed with its image so they want to get a suspect as fast as possible becuase they dont wanna look bad. the kid probly had nothing to do with the fire. *n yes this is coming from a stuy kid *

  • Requiem of the Dark Rose

    What does that have to do with the article and how does it make a legitimate argument against his? Are you now going to bash every other Stuyvesant student who makes a comment on this article? Quit trying to act so superior; your hate speech does not make you a better person.



    With that aside, I cannot wait to see Mohammed Hazzan proven innocent.

  • stopbeingstupid

    the witness thing is just pure b.s. eyewitnesses are extremely unreliable. And as for the surveillance video as evidence, I have my doubts about it. How high-quality are the cameras? Enough to clearly identify a person from a downward angle? Able to definitively pin a face from a pool of 3500+ students? And how do we know if he's simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time? None of the evidence are 100% certain.



    Until there's concrete and unquestionable evidence that's out for the public to see, I refuse to believe this. I'm sure he's not the retarded, selfish idiot who would put thousands of other people's safety at risk.



    And as for the fear mongering media and moronic racists hiding behind internet identities, screw you all. seeing someone brown does not mean he or she is a terrorist

  • Spirit of 76

    "I'm sure he's not the retarded, selfish idiot who would put thousands of other people's safety at risk."



    Then who's setting all those fires? You can't get into the school (or any other NYC public school) if you're not a student. Somebody attending the school has to be a "retarded, selfish idiot," according to you.

  • stopbeingstupid

    i acknowledge that i said someone is a retarded selfish idiot. and there really is no other way to describe the person-it must have been freezing near the Hudson and the traffic outside the school was horrendous due to the fire trucks. and don't twist my words. i didn't say that it could't have been a stuyvesant student; i am simply saying that i am sure it was not the accused.

  • ilovejapgirls

    Al Qaida has infiltriated our schoools!

  • Steven

    Too smart to be caught on camera.

  • Spirit of 76

    "his lawyer claims his client is too smart to be an arsonist."



    One would think any current or previous Stuy student would be too smart to do that (with perhaps Jake Dobkin excepted), but this obviously wasn't done by any outsider.

  • schadenfreudian mensch

    What? Not going to be charged for committing terrorist activities?

  • Mr Mel

    Not yet.

  • Rocknrope

    "My son is a good boy."



    Ding!

  • NannyState

    "This is a false accusation," said Hassan's father, who added that the second fire broke out while his son was in detention. "My boy doesn't know anything about any fires and they don't have any concrete evidence. My son is a good boy."



    What part of CAUGHT ON TAPE do they not teach at the madrassa?

  • Mohammed

    OK fine....what tapes...show me..

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