Brookline police seek suspect who allegedly groped high school student

BROOKLINE - Brookline police tell WBZ they have a difficult investigation on their hands as they seek the man who allegedly groped a 14-year-old student as she walked to class at Brookline High School Monday.

Police say the student was walking from one building on campus to another on Monday afternoon around 1:15 when an unknown man, believed to be in his 20s, approached her and "reached across, and actually reached one of his hands down into her pants," according to Brookline Police Deputy Superintendent Paul Campbell.

The student alerted a teacher, and police were contacted, but the man got away.

Lack of surveillance cameras in the area

Police were also back at the school Tuesday following up on their investigation. However, they are facing one major hurdle: a lack of surveillance cameras at Brookline High School and many of the residential homes nearby.

"Unfortunately, the schools prefer not to have a lot of surveillance in the area. So, there is some limitation...this is tough case, and the surveillance makes it even tougher," Campbell explained. "One of the things that we'll definitely be looking at are cameras in the area. So even if there isn't footage of what happened, there might be footage based on what we know about the suspect of him either approaching the scene or him leaving."

Police are searching for said surveillance at the nearby MBTA stop and businesses somewhat nearby, but not in the immediate vicinity.

WBZ asked Brookline's superintendent why there are no cameras at the school but has not yet received a reply at the time of this writing.

"I get both sides of it kind of," said senior Ashley Churwin. "Like I understand why the school wants no cameras but also they run into a lot of issues inside the school with vandalism and stuff where they can't track down problems."

"We should have more cameras"

"My sentiment is different," said Campbell. "I think we should have more cameras because of incidents like this, and you know the importance of keeping the kids safe is paramount."

When asked what his message is to families who might be concerned about safety, Campbell said, "Brookline is safe, and the schools generally are safe, and it's hard to - you know - this is a student who is doing exactly what she's supposed to be doing. She's at school. She's walking from one building to another in broad daylight. She's not engaged in risky behavior or anything like that. So, this is, this is a tough case. This is someone we really want to catch."