Elected official at center of fight at remembrance event cited for harassment
Police in Dunbar, Fayette County, have cited a borough council member for harassment after she was involved in a fight at a remembrance event for Renesmay Eutsey, the 9-year-old girl who police say was killed by her caretakers.
Dunbar's police chief told KDKA-TV that Councilwoman Lynn Hall was the only person charged because she was the aggressor in the fight, which was captured by KDKA-TV cameras on Sept. 5, and threw the first punch. She told KDKA-TV she plans to fight the citation.
Since the fight took place, Mayor Norman Gordon said he hasn't been able to go anywhere without someone asking or making a comment about it.
"It's unfortunate," Gordon said. "I wish it hadn't happened. She's been excellent in all the things that she's done. This unfortunately put a black mark on the borough and her as well."
Since then, he said it's been hard for him to get a good night's sleep.
"People are mad at different people. The only people I'm mad at actually are the keyboard warriors that are on Facebook putting out half-truths," Gordon said.
He blames them for putting out what he said was inaccurate information that council had not unanimously voted to rename the park for Eutsey. It's a comment organizers repeated at the event, and after hearing that, Hall got out of her chair and approached the speakers.
She refused to sit back down, and the fight ensued. At the time, she told us she was left with a bloody finger, bloody glasses and marks on her neck.
Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele happened to be standing a few feet away at the event.
"I don't believe that the reaction that we saw that day in the park was appropriate for an elected official," Aubele said.
Hall told KDKA-TV she was defending herself and had no intention of getting into a fight. She said they initiated contact with her and she just wanted to correct the record.
"I understand why she took such offense to it," Gordon said. "How she went about it, don't think was the proper thing to do."
Aubele said she could have waited to confront the organizers until later and could have publicly corrected the record.
"Not the place, not the time," he said.
Hall, using her critic's logic, wondered why the speakers thought the celebration was the time to bring up that council had not unanimously voted on the item. She explained that she felt she had to correct the record in that moment to reach the same scope of people.
"It absolutely distracted from Renesmay," Aubele said. "It's a councilwoman who's making it about herself instead of about the child that we were there to honor."
Hall said she felt she had done nothing wrong, explaining that if it all happened again, she wouldn't do anything differently. The citation is punishable by a fine or up to 90 days in jail, Aubele said.
