POLICE: Mahanoy man harassed neighbor’s children with flashlight, racial slurs
MAHANOY CITY – A Mahanoy City man is facing multiple charges of harassment and ethnic intimidation for an incident over the weekend.
Paul Boczkowski, 68, of 98 South Catawissa Street, is accused of harassing his neighbor’s children with a flashlight and with racial slurs.
According to the criminal complaint filed by Mahanoy City Police Patrolman Rachael Lenar, she was flagged down while on patrol around 9pm Sunday by a man who reported that his neighbor, Boczkowski, was harassing his children, repeatedly calling them racial slurs and names.
Boczkowski is white and the neighbor’s children are mixed-race, according to the complaint.
That same night, Boczkowski, the neighbor said, was shining a flashlight in his children’s eyes, including a 4-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. When the children protested, Boczkowski said he “was going to call the State Police and Mahanoy City Police to come there and shoot them.”
When police took statements of those involved, Boczkowski came outside with a flashlight and caught Lenar in the eye with it.
Boczkowski said he shined the flashlight at the children because they were playing on the sidewalk near his house, at which point he was told the sidewalk was public and they are permitted to play there.
Asked about the slurs, he referred to the group of children by another slur and told police that “I don’t like them” and said Mahanoy City needs “vigilantes again.”
Three counts of misdemeanor ethnic intimidation and three counts of misdemeanor harassment were filed against Boczkowski.
A preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 19 at 10am in Shenandoah.
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