Witnesses: Father, 2 Daughters Beaten by Crowd During Memorial Day Cookout

A father and his two daughters are recovering after witnesses say they were beaten by a large crowd on Memorial Day in an attack they believe was racially-motivated.

A Bucks County man, who we are not identifying, told NBC10 the incident was the culmination of several months of bullying. The man’s mother, sister, brother-in-law and four nieces and nephews between the ages of 7 and 12 live at a home on Lawndale Street in the Juniata section of Philadelphia.

The father told NBC10 his sister’s family is the only white family living on the block and that for the past year the children have been the victims of racially-motivated bullying, name-calling and attacks. {snip}

The bullies are mostly kids and teenagers as well as some adults, according to the father. He also said during one incident bricks were thrown at the children. The father insisted however that it wasn’t the entire block bullying his family and that some neighbors have come to his family’s defense.

The father and his kids were visiting his mother’s home on Lawndale Street Monday around 5:30 p.m. during a Memorial Day cookout when he says a large group of people on the block kept going to the house and harassing his family. He also says one child pinched his daughter.

Not wanting the situation to escalate, the father says the family tried to leave. That’s when a group of around 20 people, mostly women and teenagers, tried to pull the man’s brother-in-law and mother off the porch, according to witnesses. The father then says they began to attack his two daughters. One woman also grabbed his 14-year-old daughter’s hair and pulled her head against a railing, according to witnesses.

As the crowd attacked, the father told NBC10 a man with brass knuckles began to beat him. The father says he fell to the ground, struck his head on a railing and the attack continued.

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The father says the man then began to attack his daughter as the woman continued beating her.

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The father, who told NBC10 he lost consciousness at one point, was taken to Aria-Frankford while his daughters were taken to St. Mary’s. They were all treated for head trauma and later released from the hospital.

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