A 45-year-old Butler man is facing criminal charges after an argument on Brown Avenue turned into a chilling threat, with the man accused of yelling racial slurs and warning he would beat the other man with a baseball bat and dump his body in the river. John Kelly posted $10,000 bail after being charged with terroristic threats and disorderly conduct.
According to charging documents cited by ButlerRadio.com, the incident happened along the 300 block of Brown Avenue in Butler last Sunday. Kelly is accused of arguing with another man before the confrontation escalated into threats, including the warning that he would beat the man with a baseball bat and “dump (the victim’s) body in the river.”
There is an unresolved detail in the public account of what happened. The outlet’s headline is “Man Charged During Altercation,” while the article text states that a fight broke out on Brown Avenue when someone took out a gun, without identifying Kelly as that person. Neither version has been independently confirmed beyond what the station reported.
Charges Filed And Bail Posted
Kelly was ultimately charged with terroristic threats and disorderly conduct, and he was able to post the $10,000 bail set in the case, per the same account. No court docket, response from Kelly or his attorney, or outcome of the charges has been made public.
Pennsylvania’s terroristic threats statute covers communicating a threat to commit a crime of violence with intent to terrorize another person, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. That statutory language alone does not establish whether the conduct alleged against Kelly meets the law’s elements. The statute is generally graded as a first-degree misdemeanor, though it can rise to a third-degree felony if a threat diverts occupants of a specified building or facility from normal operations — a circumstance the evidence in this case does not address.
What Disorderly Conduct Covers Under State Law
Pennsylvania’s disorderly conduct law covers fighting, threatening, or violent or tumultuous behavior carried out with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or that recklessly creates a risk of it, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. That same statute makes the offense a third-degree misdemeanor when the actor intends substantial harm or serious inconvenience, or persists after a warning to stop; otherwise it is treated as a summary offense. It is not established which grading applies to the charge against Kelly.
Beyond the charging details, the record on this case remains limited. The time of the incident, specifics about the firearm reportedly involved, and independent confirmation of the allegations have not been reported.
