The 16-year-old New York student was beaten and stabbed while classmates took video, police said.
An 18-year-old has been arrested in the stabbing death of high school student Khaseen Morris, who was videotaped as he lay dying by a group of fellow classmates who stood watching and did nothing, police said.
Tyler Flach of Lido Beach, New York, was charged with second-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty during a Thursday court hearing and is being held without bail.
His arrest followed a melee Monday afternoon that erupted at a strip mall on Long Island where teens routinely congregated after school, according to authorities.
Morris, 16, had been challenged to a fight over a girl he had innocently walked home from a party, his family said. The challenge came from an ex-boyfriend of the girl, they said.
About eight teens attacked Morris after he arrived, beating him and stabbing him once in the chest, the Nassau County Police reported. He later died at a hospital.
Flach, a college student, is a friend of the ex-boyfriend and accompanied him to the mall parking lot, Detective Neil Delargy said at a Thursday press conference. "He came there as a partner with his friends to have this fight," Delargy said. "He took it to the next level."
Flach "absolutely" stabbed the teen, Delargy said.
Investigators are currently working to identify the other assailants, he said.
"Kids stood here and didn't help Khaseen — they'd rather video this event. They videoed his death instead of helping," said Detective Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick at a Tuesday news conference. "So anyone who has video, come forward. Do the right thing for Khaseen."
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