Pregnant Lady Assaulted In Fancy Washington Irving HS 'Hood

John Del Signore

Published Jun 30, 2010

Modified Jul 1, 2010

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Irving Place and 15th Street

John Del Signore

Published Jun 30, 2010

Modified Jul 1, 2010

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Visibly pregnant bank executive Moriah Lazar Hara was assaulted by a group of four teens a couple of weeks ago near her apartment in Gramercy Park, which is also located near the Washington Irving High School, a hotbed of rowdy adolescent antics. Hara, five months pregnant, accidentally brushed against one of the teens around 2 p.m. as she tried to walk around them at East 15th Street and Irving Place. Naturally, this kind of dis' could not go unanswered—certainly not from some rich bitch with a mad weird growth in her stomach.

"You don't want to pick a fight with me," shouted the girl that Hara brushed against, and then it was on. The girl and the three others started slapping Hara in the face, and as she tried to call 911, one of the teens grabbed her phone and tossed it to Lequint Singleton, 17, who is 6-foot-5 and 192 pounds, court papers say. After shoving and punching her some more, the teens fled. Within two weeks, Hara moved to the Upper East Side, where these sorts of things never happen.

"My first thought when this happened was for my baby," Hara tells the Post. "Any trauma can impact the baby. Luckily, the doctor gave me the all-clear." Singleton, of Harlem, was arrested Friday and charged with robbery, grand larceny, criminal mischief and criminal possession of stolen property; he's being held on $3,000 bond at Rikers Island. The others are still at large, and it's not been confirmed that they were students at Washington Irving, but it would surprise no one if they were.

"There is no doubt in my mind if something isn't done about this, someone will be murdered out in front of that school," Hara says. Been there, done that: In 2006, a 16-year-old was stabbed to death in a melee in Union Square that involved some Washington Irving students, and a 2007 stabbing was also believed to involve some gangs based at the school. And, in 2003, a six-months pregnant woman was hit by a stool thrown out a 6th story window at Washington Irving High School. One former student of Friends Seminary tells us they used to get dismissed ten minutes before Washington Irving let out so they'd have a running start. Clearly, the DOE needs to instill some Joe Clark-style tough love, or just ban teenagers.

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washington Irving HS

John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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