Democrats in Upper Darby accuse a GOP council candidate and former police officer of racist posts
Bob Yantorno initially denied the 3-year-old posts on X were his, but later explained the comments reflected his "frustration and anger over the senseless violence in our community."
Bob Yantorno, a Republican candidate for a seat on the Upper Darby Township Council, is facing scrutiny over material he posted three years ago that Democrats have decried as racist.
Yantorno, 65, is a former commanding officer of the Narberth Police Department, a former paramedic, and a veteran of other law enforcement agencies. He’s running in the township’s 3rd District.
Yantorno denies that anything he has ever posted was motivated by racism and said his social media comments reflected his outrage over incidents of violence.
The controversy stems from posts Yantorno made in 2022 on Twitter, now known as X, in response to crime news stories from Fox 29 that involved Black suspects.
“Take him out back n bullet in occipital section,” Yantorno wrote about a suspect from Drexel Hill charged with two homicides.
“Arrest convict bury,” Yantorno wrote in response to a booking photo of a Camden man accused of rape.
In a 2022 reply to an Upper Darby Police Department statement about a rash of thefts from automobiles, Yantorno wrote under four photos of young men in hoodies walking near cars but not stealing anything, “Common denominator?”
The race of the men was not obvious from the photos posted by the department.
Democrat Noah Fields, 25, who is running for one of two at-large council seats, neither of which Yantorno is seeking, condemned Yantorno in an interview for what he said was “shocking” and “hateful” speech, as well as “violent rhetoric.”
Fields said that “racism has no place in Upper Darby.” He added that “this guy is calling for the execution of people without due process. The violent rhetoric we’re hearing on the national level is trickling down to local politics.”
State Rep. Heather Boyd (D., Delaware), who represents Upper Darby, said the posts were “really upsetting, offensive, and disappointing.”
She added, “We don’t want anyone in a position of influence to not consider people’s right to due process and the rule of law.”
Asked about the posts in an interview Wednesday, Yantorno initially said he was unaware of their existence.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. What Democrats are saying is slanderous. People put stuff out there about me that’s not true,” Yantorno said. “All I can tell you that in the Narberth Police Department, my reputation was stellar.”
Yantorno said he didn’t know how posts with his name, photo, and personal details got onto X. His page says he joined the platform in 2022 and features a profile photo of him in police uniform.
He bristled at being called racist. He added, “I would never put a picture of somebody of any color and disparage them because of their race.”
Yantorno said that personal experience has made him sensitive to race bias. He said that when he and his first wife, whom he identified as a woman of color, moved into a house in Stonehurst, an Upper Darby neighborhood, someone stuck a cross in their lawn.
It was, Yantorno said, a symbol of hatred aimed at his then-wife.
Similarly, he said, when he was a police officer in Yeadon, he and his former wife “fell in love” with a house they wanted to buy, but had to back out of the deal because their real estate agent said if they moved in, “someone would burn down the house and the real estate office.”
Yantorno added without being asked: “You will never see anything from me online using the N-word. That’s not how I roll, brother.”
A statement emailed Thursday by the Upper Darby Republican Campaign Committee included remarks attributed to Yantorno that differed from his original explanation.
In the new statement, Yantorno no longer said he was unaware of the posts. Instead, he said, “those comments reflected my frustration and anger over the senseless violence in our community and had nothing to do with race.” He added that “claims of racism are offensive and absurd.”
A GOP committee statement, which was not attributed to a specific person, emphasized Yantorno’s commitment to public service and said that he does not deserve a “fabricated inference that has no basis in reality.”
Jeff Jones, an Upper Darby real estate developer who has been a Republican candidate for the council in the past, defended Yantorno.
“I read the tweets. They were comments made by a gentleman 35 years in law environment who’s seen criminals and victims at their worst, and the frustration came through in those tweets,” said Jones, who is Black.
Melissa DiNofia-Bozzone, Yantorno’s Democratic opponent for the 3rd District seat, declined to comment on the posts, saying, “I’m focused on running a positive campaign.”
Friends describe Yantorno, a veteran, as a gregarious person with a desire to help his community.
In 2020, he biked across the United States to raise money for families of slain police officers. He also did the ride, he said, for the family of Daniel Faulkner, the Philadelphia police officer who was killed in 1981. Mumia Abu-Jamal received the death penalty for the shooting, which was later reduced to a life sentence without parole.
Yantorno is also the author of a 1995 crime novel set in Philadelphia called Brutal Mercies. According to the publishing company, Trafford, the story opens with “a horrific act of mutilation” in Overbrook that “leaves the police asking, ‘Why?’”
Staff writers Katie Bernard and Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.