Highland Park Teen Brings Machetes to School
Kace Coyle (Courtesy of University Park Police Department)
On Monday morning — just three days after the massacre at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary — two machetes were discovered on Highland Park High School’s campus.
According to an arrest report, security guards found the two knives hidden near the football stadium, beneath a blue Highland Park hoodie with the number 82 on it. They waited to see if anyone would come retrieve them. The report says Scots wide receiver Kace Allan Coyle, who wears the number 82 on his jersey, came back for the hoodie, leaving the machetes exposed. As he walked back to the school with a friend, the students were intercepted at the back door by an officer who escorted them to the office.
The students were patted down for weapons and interviewed, the report says. Coyle claimed the hoodie and knives, saying that he and some friends had vandalized yard displays the previous night.
He admitted to using the knives to destroy Christmas yard decorations, lopping off the heads of Santa Clauses and reindeers execution-style, said University Park police Capt. Leon Holman.
“He admitted to committing about eight different accounts of vandalism, but so far we’ve only had reports of two,” Holman said. But damaged decorations are the least of the police department’s worries.
“We’re more concerned with the fact that he had the machetes on a school campus than about the vandalism,” Holman said. “Decorations can be replaced.”
Coyle is facing a felony charge of carrying weapons in a place where they are prohibited. He could also be charged with criminal mischief if the decorations’ owners decide to press charges.
Although Holman has seen Christmas vandalism in the Park Cities before, he’s never seen a case quite like this.
“Each year, there are reports of vandalism to holiday decorations,” Holman said. “But this is the first time I’ve seen where someone took a machete and actually decapitated the decorations.”
On Monday afternoon, Highland Park ISD Superintendent Dawson Orr sent a letter informing parents and staff of the morning’s events. The letter confirms the police report, saying that the knives “were never brought into the school building.” Orr says that “appropriate disciplinary measures are being taken on campus and the district is fully cooperating with police,” before assuring parents that student safety is a top priority in HPISD.
23 comments to "Highland Park Teen Brings Machetes to School"
(3) “Premises” means a building or a portion of a
building. The term does not include any public or private driveway,
street, sidewalk or walkway, parking lot, parking garage, or other
parking area.
What this kid did was wholly stupid and unexcusable, but charging him with a felony doesn’t quite seem to fit the bill either. Nobody should look the other way, but I think there is a better answer on this one.
So what is that answer in your opinion ma’am? ISS for swords on campus and felony confessions? Picking up trash at Caruth Park on a Saturday? A Stinson detention? Bear crawls in the gym before class? Running triangles on the baseball field? Running burners in the football stadium?
Or do you think that the young man should be treated like a young man from Skyline or Carter who brought swords to school, who would undoubtedly still be in jail for inability to make bail (this is real world stuff so I apologize in advance if it confuses you)?
It’s a shame that you can’t take a little prodding. Relax – MiCocina in the village will still be there tomorrow, your child will still pledge his/her favorite fraternity at UT thanks to his/her legacy status, and your position as a stay-at-home mom is undoubtedly secure as long as you keep monitoring the Park Cities People blog and responding accordingly. We all know that you think that the Texas Penal Code does not apply to you – but hopefully the UPPD and Dallas County DA will prove you wrong, though I think they may have a technicality to deal with, as I previously posted.
“GO FORTH AND SERVE” In this case, I ask the UPPD and Dallas County DA’s office to comply with this motto.
As for the second half of your rant, I hate MiCocina–worst Mexican food in Dallas. I grew up near the Texas-Mexico border so I understand the world better than you think, and I am pretty grounded by my lower middle class roots. I went to a second-rate school and worked my way into the Park Cities, buddy. I am not easily confused, and I believe the law applies to everyone–including my kids. However, is it possible that we really need to convict a kid of a felony for what was really a malicious, stupid, ill-conceived plan to behead Christmas ornaments? Without question, he should pay for what he did.
Also, who needs LSD when you have comments from Dennis Beecherl? Man, that was trippy.
It always amazes me on this blog the number of creative ways people come up with to justify what is essentially criminal behavior.
To be honest, NO ONE I knew in high school went around destroying Christmas decorations, or any of the other stuff people throw out there to say “hey, we were all kids at one time, right?”
The levels that people will go to in order to protect these “innocent” bubble-grown kids is disgusting.
And yes, slashing Christmas ornaments is strange, and certainly punishable. But it doesn’t rise to the level of felony. Read nfw’s post for what I believe is the proper perspective. But I hope that you are comfortable sitting on your high horse.
Leave a Reply