Charges Against Teen Chalkers Dropped

Two teens cited for drawing chalk pictures on a Doylestown street at midnight are off the hook.

Doylestown Borough Police this week dropped the criminal mischief charges against the two teens, saying the incident wasn't serious enough to warrant legal charges.

Though one of the young men, Connor Logan, 18, told news outlets last week that he was going to plead guilty and pay the fine, he now won't have to. The second person charged in the incident was a 17-year-old boy; the names of juveniles typically are not disclosed in legal cases.

The Doylestown Borough Council member who chairs the public safety committee and works closely with police said Friday that he welcomed the decision.

"It's encouraging to see that Chief Donnelly was responsive to the community's concerns and took decisive action to move this situation to a better outcome," said Dennis McCauley.

A Doylestown police officer had come upon the two teens drawing with chalk around midnight on Tuesday, Aug. 7, on North Clinton Street near Wood Street.

The two had drawn "a large whale and several sea turtles" on the street, according to the police report.

Borough Police Chief Jim Donnelly said Thursday that the officer knew several other instances of chalked graffiti had been found on Doylestown buildings in recent weeks. Some of the drawings were obscene, and some were quotes from song lyrics, Donnelly said.

With that context in mind, the officer cited the two teens.

Logan later told news outlets that he had found the chalk on the street and was drawing "harmless" pictures on the ground, which then washed away in the rain.

The incident sparked , both here at home and across the country, as the story was picked up by national news organizations.

Doylestown police got phone calls from as far away as Texas from callers demanding to know why they had cited the teens, Donnelly said.

While this incident now seems resolved, the chalk graffiti around Doylestown has continued.

Someone wrote chalk graffiti on the side of the building that houses the Antheil, Maslow, and MacMinn law office on West State Street, according to police reports.

The graffiti was reported on Monday, Aug. 13, but Donnelly said it probably was drawn there the weekend before.