State College man arrested after racially charged incident, police say

A State College man is facing several charges after an incident in a hot tub.

Patton Township police officers were dispatched at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday to 201 Vairo Blvd., where a man with a bloody, swollen and crooked nose met them near a hot tub. The man reportedly pointed out a white man in the hot tub and said that he attacked him.

The white man, later identified as Chad Eric Neiss, 22, allegedly screamed, “I can’t believe you called the police. You should have just fought with me,” according to an affidavit of probable cause. The police officers tried to calm down the man in the hot tub and then had him get out. The man allegedly told police that where he is from people go “toe-to-toe” and said he had been taunted for being white.

The man with the injured nose told police that Neiss called him an “Indian,” “brown” and “a piece of s**t,”according to the affidavit. Neiss was allegedly increasingly agitated when told that his target was not Indian.

“You are an Indian,” Neiss had allegedly said. “I will call you that as much as I want, and you can’t do s**t about it.” Neiss then punched the other man in the face, according to the affidavit, and tried to start a fight with someone else. Two witnesses corroborated the injured man’s story.

Medical personnel at the scene told police that the injured man had a broken nose and had to be transported to Mount Nittany Medical Center for treatment.

Neiss was charged with misdemeanor ethnic intimidation, misdemeanor simple assault and harassment, a summary offense.

Judge Charity L. Nileski scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for 8:30 a.m. Sept. 27.

This story was originally published August 31, 2017 at 5:53 PM with the headline "State College man arrested after racially charged incident, police say."