{"id":325361,"date":"2026-11-11T07:22:23","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T07:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/325361\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T07:22:23","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T07:22:23","slug":"pennsylvania-cop-hurls-antigay-slur-threatens-to-jail-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/325361\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania cop hurls antigay slur, threatens to jail boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Pennsylvania<\/a> police officer could face disciplinary action after a video captured him threatening to jail a 15-year-old boy when he turns 18 and directing a homophobic<\/a> slur at him.<\/p>\n

A Monongahela mother posted a video on Facebook<\/a> taken by her son while standing by his bicycle when a police officer started shouting out the window at the teen. The officer threatened a $500 fine, using profanity, before saying, \u201cWhen you turn 18, I\u2019ll be glad to put you in jail, you fa***t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The encounter happened in Monongahela, a Washington County community about 25 miles south of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnnecessary to talk to our kids like this for loitering and being loud! Wonder why police aren\u2019t respected, they don\u2019t respect us or our kids,\u201d Marissa Leezer posted.<\/p>\n

Monongahela Police Chief Kevin Harris confirmed to WPXI<\/a> that the officer works for the department and said he was addressing the officer\u2019s behavior. Harris told KDKA<\/a> that the officer has shown remorse. The reports did not identify the officer.<\/p>\n

The officer remained on duty on November 9 while the city and Teamsters union reviewed the matter, KDKA reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Members of the community have called for the officer to be put on administrative leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not OK behavior,\u201d Max Jenkins of Monongahela told WPXI. \u201cNo adult should be speaking to a kid like that, especially someone in a position of power like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy and his friends were reportedly hanging out at a local McDonald\u2019s before the interaction with the officer. Harris said police were called about a disturbance near the aquatorium. The mother acknowledged that the teens had been loitering and making noise at the restaurant, according to WPXI.<\/p>\n

The family declined an on-camera interview but allowed WPXI to share the footage. The station also noted that the police department\u2019s stated mission emphasizes integrity, professionalism and respect in its service to residents, businesses and visitors.<\/p>\n

NEW! Please make a tax-deductible donation to The Advocate Journalism Project<\/a> to directly support LGBTQ+ journalism. Help us expand our Washington, D.C., bureau to bring you more breaking news from the nation’s capital and fund crucial investigative reporting, compelling video reports, and sustain our 60-year print archive, a history of the queer civil rights movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Pennsylvania police officer could face disciplinary action after a video captured him threatening to jail a 15-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[131825,91357,131824,28,30,29,99288],"class_list":["post-325361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-chief-kevin-harris","tag-homophobic-slurs","tag-monongahela-police-department","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-police-reform"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}