Jeannette police charged a man with ethnic intimidation and related offenses this week after they said he called another man a racial epithet during a fight, according to court papers.
Police were called to Jeannette Manor on South Fourth Street at 9:30 p.m. Sunday for a reported fight. Witnesses told investigators William E. Osselburn, 61, got into a fight with the man, who is Black, and directed the derogatory term at him, according to court papers.
Osselburn admitted to using the word, police said.
A neighbor told investigators that Osselburn was visiting her third floor apartment when they got into an argument and Osselburn referred to the other man in a derogatory way, according to court papers. The neighbor said she asked him to leave, but then the other man confronted Osselburn and the pair scuffled in the hallway. A witness told police Osselburn directed the racial epithet at the man during the fight.
The two exchanged punches and Osselburn was pushed into a wall, leaving behind a hole, police said.
Charges were sent by summons. A preliminary hearing is set for May 20. Osselburn did not have an attorney listed in online court records. He could not be reached.
In addition to ethnic intimidation, he is charged with simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.
He previously served one year in a probationary program for a 2017 drunken-driving charge in North Huntingdon, according to online court records.
Under state law, a person can be charged with ethnic intimidation if authorities determine that a criminal act was “motivated by ill will or hatred towards a victim’s race, color, religion or national origin,” according to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
