Long Island police walk back details on Khaseen Morris’ death

Authorities in Long Island are walking back statements they made last week saying a 16-year-old stabbing victim lay bleeding on the street while at least 50 youths stood by, filming on their phones, without helping.

At a community meeting on Tuesday, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told hundreds of residents that police now believe only 20 kids watched the fight, as few as two filmed it, and at least 14 people called 911 during or after the brawl, Newsday reported.

The victim, Khaseen Morris, died in a hospital after the fight outside a strip mall in Oceanside, New York. Authorities have arrested and charged 18-year-old Tyler Flach in Morris’ death, and he has pleaded not guilty.

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But Ryder’s new characterization of the events differs wildly from original reports.

“They videoed his death instead of helping him,” Detective Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick of the Nassau County Police Department had told reporters at a September 17 press conference, adding: “This can’t go on. Your friends are dying while you stand there and video it. That’s egregious.”

In fact, many people did step up to help Morris and phoned 911, Ryder said Tuesday. He added that authorities have only recovered two videos of the incident, but it’s possible there are more.

Authorities only wanted to send an urgent message to witnesses, but ‘it didn’t come across that way’

Fitzpatrick had also said, “There’s got to be about 50, 60, 70 kids here.”

A spokesman for the Nassau County Police Department told Insider on Thursday there were, indeed, roughly 50 people or more at the scene, but that figure included not only the teens involved in the brawl, but also adult bystanders, storekeepers, and others in the area.

He confirmed that 14 people called 911 about the incident, but not all identified themselves. It remains unclear how many of those calls came from the teens involved in the brawl, and how many were from others.

Ryder said Tuesday that when Fitzpatrick made the initial remarks, it was “a very emotional time, a very, very fluid time.”

Authorities had merely intended to send an urgent message to youths to come forward with video evidence, but “it didn’t come across that way,” Ryder said.

He added that authorities have only recovered two videos of the incident, but it’s possible there are more. He also said the two individuals who did eventually turn over videos to the police had not been forthcoming.

“Nobody volunteered those videos for us,” Ryder said. “We had to find them and get them.”