A Jamaican household residing in Pennsylvania is grieving the lack of their 16-year-old son, who tragically handed away following a reported hazing incident with alleged racial implications that has deeply unsettled the area people.
Justin Johnson, a sophomore at Central Dauphin Excessive Faculty, had relocated to the realm from Jamaica two years prior. He misplaced his life after an encounter involving three people who purportedly approached his residence and invited him to hitch them exterior for socializing.
Safety footage from the Johnson family captured scenes of youths pursuing somebody in entrance of their residence. In the course of the pursuit, one of many people was overheard remarking, “He’s operating like he ran again to Africa,” whereas one other uttered, “He’s gone again to f***ing Africa!”
Justin’s father, Orville Johnson, recounted that his closing alternate along with his son occurred throughout a cellphone name on Friday, throughout which Justin described fleeing from a gaggle of friends as quick as he might. Shortly after returning residence, Justin collapsed, prompting his father to right away contact emergency providers.
“I known as 911 instantly they usually instructed me what to do. They known as me and stated I’ve to return to the hospital as a result of they’re not getting a heartbeat, and I haven’t seen him since,” Orville stated.
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Hate crime?
Relations, together with Johnson’s fathers, neighborhood members, and people inside the Jamaican diaspora, have responded to the incident by labeling it a doable “hate crime.”
Each regulation enforcement and faculty officers acknowledge consciousness of social media studies suggesting that the Jamaican teen could have been focused for racial harassment by friends. Johnson’s father additional affirmed that different cases of harassment occurred, attributing them to racism.
“The Bureau of Police is conscious that content material and movies are being shared via varied social media retailers and requests the general public’s cooperation as we proceed this investigation with the intention to present an intensive, factual, and information-based account of occasions,” police stated.
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Based on Decrease Paxton Township Police, no costs have been filed but however an investigation is ongoing.
On April 29, Central Dauphin School District launched the next assertion.
“The Central Dauphin Faculty District is saddened to listen to in regards to the passing of Justin Johnson, a Tenth-grade pupil at Central Dauphin Excessive Faculty. We perceive that the circumstances round Justin’s dying haven’t been decided, nonetheless, there are social media studies that indicated that Justin was subjected to racial insensitivity from classmates,” the assertion stated.
“Please perceive that this sort of behaviour isn’t in line with our core values and our imaginative and prescient of creating certain everyone seems to be valued and related. Hate speech or any behaviour that denigrates one other particular person’s rights is not going to be tolerated and isn’t in line with the mission, imaginative and prescient, and values of CDSD,” the assertion continued.
