Teens scrawled bias graffiti at Patchogue playground, cops say

Two 14-year-olds were arrested Friday evening and charged with scrawling swastikas, “KKK” and other racial graffiti on a playground at a Patchogue elementary school, Suffolk County Police said.

School officials at Bay Avenue Elementary School notified police on March 29 that the playground equipment had been vandalized with the racial epithets and a phallic symbol, police said in a news release.

The police’s Hate Crimes Unit investigated and arrested the two teens, whose names and genders were not released, and charged them with making graffiti, a misdemeanor, police said.

The teens were issued field appearance tickets and will be arraigned at a later date, police said. They were released to their parents.