Opinion

When a boy kills

In big cities such as New York, some tragedies aren’t preventable. The killing of young Timothy Crump was.

That seems clear based on what’s been reported so far. It’s a sad reminder that our public-school system is not designed to put the safety and protection of our students first and foremost. Now its failures, along with those of law enforcement, are ­responsible for the fresh horror of one ­14-year-old boy killing another.

Police say Noel Estevez stabbed Timothy Crump to death after they clashed outside their Bronx middle school Wednesday. But there’s a back story here.

For months Crump and his buddies are said to have tormented Estevez in a campaign of intimidation and harassment well beyond typical bullying. Sources say Estevez was “constantly” chased and grabbed. His hair was cut. So fierce did the taunting and threats become, Estevez resisted going to school, telling his family he feared for his life.

Even then, the war followed him home. Cops and neighbors say Estevez’s tormentors threw rocks at his family’s window. They urinated on his door, defecated near it and tried to set it on fire.

So bad did it get, the boy tried to kill himself. He was treated at a Bronx hospital for depression and released only this month.

After classes on Wednesday, Crump reportedly waited for Estevez outside. Cops say he punched Estevez. Only then did Estevez stab Crump.

What makes this tragedy so appalling is that authorities were aware of the problem. And did not stop it.

Only a day before the incident, Estevez’s father went to the school, IS 117, begging to have his son transferred. Police are said to have been called to his home, too. But in the end no one diffused the ticking bomb.

We’ll leave it to a jury to decide whether Estevez really should have been charged as an adult with murder. But there are questions of responsibility that go beyond the criminal and cry out for answers.

Because too often the official ­response in cases like this is for some adult in authority to do the bare minimum: phone the cops or a city agency, and call it a day. That’s the way the buck gets passed and trouble festers.

In this case, Estevez wasn’t transferred, supposedly because only a few days of school remained. Even though he feared for his life. In any decent school, adults don’ t rest until kids like Estevez are safe, and problem kids are dealt with.

Mayor de Blasio has ordered a probe and says he’ll make sure the families get “the answers they deserve.” We’ll be watching.