No charges for bar owner, companion

Pair were accused by ride-share driver of racist comments

Catasauqua police said Monday no charges would be filed against a borough bar owner and her companion after a video of a rideshare driver refusing them a ride over racist comments went viral earlier this month.

“After consulting with the district attorney’s office, no charges will be filed,” police Chief Douglas F. Kish said in an email.

Reached by email, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said “No criminal charges would apply to the conduct — reprehensible though it might be.”

The May 13 video, posted by driver James W. Bode, shows Jackie Harford, owner of Fossil’s Last Stand, in the 400 block of Race Street, allegedly say, “Wow, you’re like a white guy.” Before a back-and-forth, during which Bode accuses the pair of being racist, a man with Harford can be heard calling Bode “a f—— n-lover.”

During the video, which lasts over a minute, the man says, “I should punch you in the f—— face.”

“You’re going to threaten me?” Bode asks, and then tells the pair he’s calling police.

Kish last week confirmed Harford is the woman in the video, adding police received a call from Bode reporting the incident. No other details were released.

The video has spread across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit and other social media. The bar’s website and Facebook page have been taken down, and Harford’s personal page deleted.

The bar’s page on Yelp. com, a business review website, comments were also shut down because the “business recently received increased public attention resulting in an influx of people posting their views to this page, so we have temporarily disabled the ability to post here as we work to investigate the content.”

Bode’s Facebook post has so far garnered more than 6,600 comments and 5,600 shares.

“For everyone reaching out and showing support, thank you,” Bode posted to his Facebook page last week. “I appreciate it, truly. But this is the way it should be everywhere, every time. I shouldn’t be ‘the guy’ who did it or said it … we should all be that person. Speak up if you’re uncomfortable with it because it makes them uncomfortable, as they should be.”

Bode did not immediately return a request for comment.