Removal of Trench Coat Wearer From Campus Draws Protests

Civil rights activists Tuesday came to the support of a 15-year-old youth who, his parents say, has been barred from Glendora High School after rumors spread that he was part of the Trench Coat Mafia linked to the recent school massacre in Colorado.

Glendora student David Hancock often wore a trench coat his mother said she bought him months ago. Hancock’s family denied that he has any connection with the two Colorado youths who murdered classmates last week and were part of a group dubbed the Trench Coat Mafia because of their attire. But rumors about Hancock took on a life of their own after he was home sick the day after that slaughter.

Civil rights activists Tuesday demanded that Hancock be allowed to return to school.

“This family has come under the influence of what I call trench coat paranoia,” James Mays, an official of the Congress of Racial Equality’s state chapter, said at a news conference in Los Angeles. “We must be careful we don’t develop this into the Salem witch hunt.”

CORE state Chairman Celes King III said his group became involved because it fears similar problems elsewhere. “A child’s education could be destroyed by a trench coat,” he said.

Glendora Unified spokesman Clay Hess said school officials cannot comment on matters involving individual students and would not say whether any students are being prevented from attending school.

“Whatever we did, we did it to protect students,” school board President Peggy Harding said, also refusing to discuss the case further.

A month ago, Hancock was suspended for five days from Glendora High School after he told a teacher that she might be on “his shotgun list” if he goes insane later in life, according to his mother, Joy Hancock. He and his trench coat then returned to school and became the object of rumors and complaints in the wake of the Colorado shootings.

The school did not suspend or expel him last week, but rather barred Hancock from campus and offered him tutoring, according to his parents. His mother contended that school officials “wouldn’t even say he could come back next year.”

Glendora police spent several hours last week debunking rumors. “We found nothing that [would] cause us to go out and arrest a young man or anyone else,” Police Chief Paul Butler said. “Concern became paranoia. It was feeding frenzy, with everything getting blown way out of proportion.”