Teen who punched principal in face gets sweet deal from judge
A hot-headed teen got a slap on the wrist Friday for slugging a Manhattan principal who told him to turn down his music.
Judge Edwina Richardson-Mendelson granted Luis Penzo, 19, youthful offender status and sentenced him to a conditional discharge — as long as he stays out of trouble for three years he’ll dodge prison and a criminal record.
“You made us very proud,” the judge said of the surly teen’s compliance with a family therapy program.
Penzo, who sauntered into Manhattan Supreme Court Friday wearing a white T-shirt and red gym shorts, offered no apology for the October 2016 beatdown of Principal Matthew Tossman.
He previously admitted to the attack on Tossman of the Manhattan Early College School for Advertising.
“He grabbed my Beats and was very aggressive so I lost control,” he confessed, according to court papers. “I hit him two times.”
When the principal asked him to turn down his music, Penzo dropped the headphones on the floor and left the music booming, prosecutors said.
Tossman reached for the device and Penzo pounced on him, leaving the educator with two black eyes and a laceration that needed seven stitches.
Penzo at the time attended Murry Bergtraum High School, which is housed in the same building as Tossman’s school.
Defense lawyer, Donna Henken, declined to comment.
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