Police charge 6 in racially motivated beating at bar

AVALON, Pa. — Police have charged six people in connection with a racially charged attack outside an Avalon bar.

A black man was injured in the July 8 incident at the Jackman Inn, which began after he arrived to drop off a card for a friend, the head chef, according to police.

The victim told police he and his friend were on the back deck to smoke a cigarette when a group of white men and women confronted them and words were exchanged, including a racial slur directed at him.

When the victim went back inside the bar, he told police he was hit and kicked. Witnesses told police the group was all involved in striking the victim.

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“He got hit in the mouth,” Javon Jenkins, the head chef, told Channel 11. “He had to pull his lip off of his tooth.”

Jenkins came out to try to break up the attack but told Channel 11 he was assaulted as well.

“I'm trying to get people off of him,” Jenkins said. “I'm getting hit; dude hits me with a bottle.”

"We keep our front door security camera on all the time now so we can see who’s coming in and out," said Jackie Scanlon, the bar manager.

RELATED STORY: Police investigating possible racial motivations for attack at local bar

Since the incident, Scanlon said she and other employees have received phone threats they believe are from members of that group. "We know to be a little bit more vigilant. Everyone is a little on edge because we don’t know what’s going to happen because this is a bar, anybody can walk in here."

Police charged Natasha Dawn Bowers, Terrence Raymon Stockey, Jeremy L. Ingram, Travis Lee Cornell, Crystal Lynn Shields and James Edward Kryl with ethnic intimidation, criminal conspiracy and simple assault.

Police say several of the group members had tattoos stating "skinheads" or tattoos of symbols associated with skinheads, and several were wearing shirts with symbols that may represent a white nationalist group.

The victim, Paul Morris, told Channel 11 he is happy the people who assaulted him will be held accountable and that he has no lasting physical injuries.

Channel 11 has learned a nearby bar, the Rusty Door Pub, recently barred the same group after customers reported feeling uncomfortable and complaining about the group that wore shirts with hate logos on them.

The owner told Channel 11 the group also got into a fight with a customer and were banned two weeks before the incident at the Jackman Inm.

Cox Media Group