Mitchell honored with a State Liberty Medal

BLAUVELT – South Orangetown School Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Mitchell has already been before the Rockland County grand jury, which is investigating the case earlier this week in which a man walked into a school armed with a gun and took him hostage in his office.

Mitchell, a Blooming Grove resident, was honored Friday at South Orangetown Middle School with a New York State Senate Liberty Medal for his bravery and heroism from Senator Thomas Morahan.

“When an armed person comes up to you, it’s terrifying to look down the barrel of a pistol,” he said. “It wasn’t loaded. No one knows that, but the person who was carrying it, but those who stood in front of it, didn’t know that. And, to take that challenge head on in spite of the danger to your own life, is truly remarkable and has to be admired.”

Mitchell is credited with talking to the intruder, Peter Cocker, 37, of Tappan. The father of a student and former NYPD officer, was upset over some issue, walked into Mitchell’s office and locked the door.

Mitchell talked to him, knocked the gun out of his hand and wrestled him to the floor where he held him until police knocked the door down and arrested Cocker.

“I was very lucky,” Mitchell told MidHudsonNews.com after receiving the medal.

“I said a little prayer to myself and said, ‘I have to defuse the situation’.”

Mitchell said his main concern was for the children and staff in the adjacent school, but he was confident, based on protocols, that the building would be locked down and the kids would be safe.