Fight breaks out during memorial event for 9-year-old girl
By Ricky Sayer
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FAYETTE COUNTY, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A fight involving a Dunbar, Fayette County, council member broke out at a memorial event for 9-year-old Renesmay Eutsey, the girl who was found dead a year ago in the Youghiogheny River.
Council member Lynn Hall, unhappy, had approached the speakers, the organizers of the event; she said they had incorrectly claimed that some council members had voted against renaming the park for Renesmay.
As she and the organizers argued, another woman, whom KDKA-TV hasn’t been able to identify, approached. She and Hall then traded punches until the borough’s police chief broke it up.
Hall said she was left with a bloody finger, broken glasses and scratches on her neck. It’s unclear what injuries, if any, the other woman who was primarily fighting with Hall sustained.
“They kept saying I need to move back, and of course, I said, ‘Move me,'” Hall told KDKA-TV. “For that false information to get out to so many people reflects badly on the borough and it’s not true; it’s not something that should have been said here.”
Borough Mayor Norman Gordon said council had unanimously voted to rename the park last week. He did acknowledge that previously, council members had not all been enthusiastic about the name change.
“The council is not helpful at all,” said organizer Ebony Floyd. “They voted to not rename it.”
She and other organizers said they are not borough residents and did not attend the council meetings, explaining they learned about how the council voted through other means.
They took issue with how Hall interrupted their speeches, rather than discussing it after.
“I put all my heart and soul into things like this, and for one bad apple to do that and not have the courtesy to speak about it after is just real vile,” said Floyd.
For both her and organizer Jessica Richter, who, during her speech, had mentioned that not all voted to rename the park, the fight was the last thing they hoped for during the event.
“If you want to have a discussion, a conversation afterwards, why something like that was brought up, then do it afterwards. Don’t do it during an event where you’re trying to honor a little girl whose life has been cut short,” Richter said.
The fight highlights the divisiveness in the small borough over Renesmay’s death. It’s divisiveness neither the organizers, Hall, nor Mayor Gordon can easily explain.
“This is almost like Washington, D.C. here right now,” Mayor Gordon said. “There’s people who just don’t like what’s going on, and they run their mouth, and it gets back, and they get mad, and one person gets mad, and next thing you know, nobody’s talking, and we’re fighting.”
When we asked for more specifics, he said it’s hard for him to say because he’s in the middle of it.
“Our community is divided, and it breaks my heart to see it that way, and I would love to see everyone come together,” Gordon said.
The borough’s police chief said minor charges stemming from the fight can be expected. The fight followed the official renaming of the park for Renesmay, including the unveiling of a memorial stone.
Eutsey’s caregivers have since been charged in her death. They are awaiting trial.
“It feels like time for her is standing still until we get a death penalty verdict,” Floyd said.
Gordon told the crowd he knows many have wondered why someone didn’t do something to prevent her death.
“I’m somebody, you are all somebody, and we all have the responsibility to protect these children,” Gordon said.
District Attorney Mike Aubele also spoke at the event and was visibly emotional. He explained how Eutsey was failed by her family members.
“I think about this girl every single day,” Aubele told the crowd. “Three hundred sixty-six days ago, I had the worst day of my life. One of the worst things that has happened in the county this century, if not the worst.”
He promised that Renesmay would not just fade away.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing that we’re all here, a year and a day after she died. And we all still remember her,” Aubele said. “And we’re never going to forget her.”
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