A Bronx school teacher testified Tuesday about the moment he realized he was covered in blood after an allegedly bullied student fatally plunged a switchblade into a classmate’s chest.
“I realized I had blood all over my clothes and my hands,” teacher Nicholas Kennedy recalled in Bronx Supreme Court at the bench trial of Abel Cedeno, now 19, who faces manslaughter charges in the stabbing death of Matthew McCree.
“I remember shouting the whole time telling them to stop,” Kennedy said of the fight-turned-deadly. “Matthew sort of backed away when he realized he was stabbed and was holding his stomach, and there was a lot of blood.”
Cedeno is accused of killing McCree, 15, and slashing fellow classmate Ariane LaBoy, then 16, but has claimed self-defense, saying the pair subjected him to years of homophobic bullying at the now-shuttered Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation in East Tremont.
LaBoy is expected to testify Tuesday afternoon.
Cedeno — who came out as bisexual after the attack — faces up to 25 years in prison on manslaughter charges and has waived his right to a jury, putting his fate in the hands of Justice Michael Gross. The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.
Cedeno’s lawyers have staged the case as a battle for gay rights and say their client — who has been spotted wearing a rainbow heart pin on his lapel in court — feared for his life on the morning of the stabbing and brought the illegal switchblade to school for his protection.
But testimony from Kennedy and classmates who witnessed the stabbing say Cedeno was acting aggressively in the moments before the attack and even challenged McCree to a fight.
On Tuesday, Kennedy told the court that Cedeno called McCree and LaBoy “pussy n—as” after they threw wads of paper in his direction and then apologized, telling Cedeno they weren’t aimed at him.
Both McCree’s mother and the prosecution claim the bullied teen knew exactly what he was doing and planned the attack.
“Abel Cedeno made choices that purposely caused death and injury,” Assistant District Attorney Nancy Borko said during opening remarks on Friday.
“Matthew McCree might have got a slap or a punch in. Abel Cedeno gets a stab to the chest in,” she continued.
“He brought an illegal knife to school, and he was looking for an opportunity to use it.”
Cedeno and his family are suing the city Department of Education, claiming teachers failed to protect him from fellow students who tormented him for years with homophobic slurs and physical attacks.