Youth Legal Assistance

My young teen niece expressed her distaste with a Blue lives matter/thin blue line sign, opting to re-decorate with some pro-LGBTQ+ messaging. The owners captured this event with a camera (amateur hour), and called the cops. The cop wanted to talk to her, but she declined. The mother defended her daughter saying that if she didn't want to talk, she didn't have to. The cop proceeded to insult them both multiple times, and threaten with over-the-top Theft and Criminal Mischief charges in order to get a criminal record for a 13 year old girl in rural Pennsylvania. The owners of the flag are not pursuing this, it is purely the cop who wants to 'set an example' (and whose department has a noted history of trying to do things like this). My sister has spoken with a lawyer, and they are confident things will get settled out of court/without anything on her record. However, our family is not well off, and the fees/fines are more than we really can handle at this point.

I hope you can support whatever you feel you can in solidarity. I'm hoping to use this as a learning experience for the young lady to help build solidarity with communities outside of the law and other governmental bureaucracies. Mutual aid is very important, and I will work to make sure she understands this.

The fees will be more than what I've set here, I'm sure, but any amount would help alleviate some of the burden.