Despite Racial Vandalism, Teen Will Not Be Charged with Bias Crime

A Collingswood juvenile will not be charged with a bias crime, according to police.

“The opinion of the prosecutor’s office was that it has to be personally directed,” said Haddon Township Det. Sgt. Scott Bishop, who reviewed nearly eight hours of video surveillance footage to identify the suspect.

“He spray-painted ‘n----r’ on a white woman’s house; [but] it wasn’t like he actually knew his victims,” Bishop said. “It doesn’t make it any more pleasant for the victims.

“It’s a very unusual incident.”

A crime of opportunity

Overnight May 12, while in a drunken rage, the teenager managed to rack up 14 separate charges, including eight counts of criminal mischief, two each of theft and attempted burglary, trespassing and underage consumption of alcohol.

“The problem is this kid covered so much ground [that] I don’t know the route he took and he doesn’t either because he was inebriated,” Bishop said.

According to a police report, it all started when the young man got into a fight with his girlfriend and then started drinking.

He was hanging out with some friends in the woods behind the Haddon Township water treatment plant. There he found a can of spray paint and wrote “F--k HTW,” “F--k you,” and “no n----rs” on the exterior of a supply shed, the east window of the main office on the property and the concrete below the building, respectively.

The teen then allegedly bloodied his fists—on what, he can’t recall, precisely, according to the police report—and then headed into the Saddlertown section of Haddon Township.

'He was lucky'

In a neighborhood that is known historically for its black community, and , Bishop said, he could “almost not think of a single incident that I would have to respond there to a crime.”

There the juvenile spray-painted “F--k You” across a car, “n----r” across another car (and on the side of a Rhoads Avenue home), and “no n----r” in the roadway in front of a church.

Then the teenager also apparently burglarized a vehicle, stealing two sets of keys, which resulted in numerous locks having to be changed at a house and workplace—and Bishop says the juvenile “was very lucky” that the cost of the damages he inflicted “did not hit the threshold for more serious crimes.”

For instance, Bishop said, the victim whose car was vandalized was surprised when her car dealership removed the paint for free.

“She was lucky; he was lucky,” he said.

Bishop said his report was forwarded to Camden County Prosecutor’s Office and that the case will likely be seen early in the fall.

“With juvenile matters, you never know how it’s going to be handled in court,” he said.