Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli announced Wednesday that his office is launching an investigation into a shared Snapchat video in which a white 14-year-old Saucon Valley High School student allegedly described a 16-year-old classmate as a “N-word eating chicken” and made references to welfare and his family’s finances, Lehigh Valley Live reported.
The 16-year-old boy later allegedly fought with the 14-year-old over the allegedly racist video at the Saucon Homecoming Pep Rally Oct. 13, and has been charged by Lower Saucon Township Police with simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct in juvenile court, with police stating that “racist verbal remarks” were a motive for the alleged assault.
The story about Morganelli’s announcement has already been picked up by national media, with online news outlets such as Salon.com and RawStory.com reporting on it.
According to RawStory.com, Morganelli issued a statement that said “the video demeans the 16 year old with numerous uses of the N-word and references to being broke and on welfare. As bad as that is, the 14 year old published the offensive video on social media including Snapchat that was viewed by numerous students as well as the 16 year old male which provoked the assault.”
Salon.com reported that Morganelli said he opened his investigation after an attorney for the family of the black student–reportedly well-known Lehigh Valley lawyer Gary Asteak–showed him the video in which the racist remarks were allegedly made.
The Morning Call reported that Lower Saucon Township Police Chief Guy Lesser said he has seen the video made by the 14-year-old, which he called “disgusting,” and that he reportedly welcomes the reopening of an investigation into the incident, in which he said his department chose to file charges only against the 16-year-old after consulting with a Northampton County assistant district attorney.
The Allentown newspaper reported that Saucon Valley School District superintendent Monica McHale-Small said she was surprised by the announcement about Morganelli’s investigation, following an internal review by school district officials which she called “appropriate,” and declined further comment because it involves a student disciplinary matter.
Lehigh Valley Live reported that Morganelli said he will investigate the incident to see if there is sufficient evidence to charge the 14-year-old boy with harassment and/or ethnic intimidation.
At a school board meeting last month, parents of other students told the board of incidents in which they said their children have been racially harassed–by both other students and staff.
