Black Doll Found Hanging By Noose In Chester County HS

COATESVILLE, PA — A black baby doll was found hanging by a noose from a locker room at a Chester County high school, but school authorities are not calling the incident an intentional hate crime.

Cathy Taschner, the Superintendent of the Coatesville Area School District, said in a statement that the incident was not racially motivated and was a prank that went too far.

The district said that the doll was found in a trash can on Sept. 1 by members of the Coatesville cross country team.

The team members threw the doll around like a ball, and said that it would become their new mascot or "team angel," according to school officials.

A coach took the doll and threw it away again, but team members took it back out of the trash and stashed it in an open ceiling tile in the locker room, the school said.

The doll remained there for several weeks until a member of the team used his tie as noose and hung the doll from the locker room ceiling. That's how the doll was recently discovered, smeared with toothpaste.

Taschner said that school officials interviewed the team and determined that their intention was to pull a "foolish prank," and not racial intimidation.

She added, however, that "we cannot accept that reasoning. This incident is offensive, insensitive, and not reflective of the kind of behavior we accept or will tolerate from our students."

The district said that they would be meeting with team members and parents to determine disciplinary action in the coming days. No punishment has yet been determined.

Patch file photo