Two New Jersey teens are facing criminal charges after allegedly urinating on at least one middle school girl and calling her a racial slur. According to multiple reports, police were investigating the incident that took place on Friday evening at a Lawrence Township High School football game, as a “racial bias crime.”
“It is alleged that racially derogatory names were being used and that someone urinated on one of the victims while using this language,” Lawrence Police Chief Brian Caloiaro said in a statement on Saturday that was obtained by The Trentonian. “As a police department, we take these incidents very seriously and we will continue to investigate until all of the facts are uncovered. This type of behavior will not be condoned in our community.”
By Saturday evening, the police department announced via Twitter that the two 17-year-old juveniles arrested in connection with the act are of Indian descent, and told CNN that the teens face several counts of harassment, bias intimidation, and lewdness.
The mother of the young victim told The Trentonian that her daughter attended the football game where the incident occurred, with a group of friends. Upon picking her daughter up, she claims her seventh-grade middle-schooler ran to her car and immediately began sharing how the men revealed their genitals and started peeing on the girls. While recounting what happened, she also included the use of racial slurs.
The Lawrence Township mayor made a statement over the weekend saying in part, “As I have said publicly before, hate has no home in Lawrence Township. As someone that has felt its sting, I know that bigotry exists and sadly will continue to exist but that doesn’t mean that I give up. Instead I look to find allies that will help me fight the cancer of bigotry.”
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Lawrence Township Public Schools said they remain committed to uncovering all the details in the case, and will “continue to investigate until all of the facts are uncovered.”