Some people just need their ass whupped to be fined for wasting precious taxpayer money on mundane foolishness.
And one Ohio family, who seem to think the police are their personal black people removers, once again called cops on their African-American neighbor, less than two weeks after doing so because the 12-year-old mowed a part of their lawn.
As reported earlier by The Root, in late June, Randy and Linda Krakora, called the police on 12-year-old Reggie Fields, an ambitious young man who runs his own lawn mowing company. His transgression? Cutting a part of their lawn.
This time, on July 4—when all sorts of folks let their “truuuuue colors shine throooough” (see: this, this, this and this), the Krakora household called the police once again on Reggie and his friends, the children who live next door, for allegedly wetting their house while playing water games on the lawn (using a makeshift Slip ’N Slide, according to Mic.com.)
Mic reports that the Krakoras have called police over 60 times in the last 18 years.
“We have always been told by the police that if we feel threatened, ‘Don’t confront these people, just call us,’” Linda Krakora said, according to Mic. “We’re a slightly older couple. We have a white couple in their eighties next to us. If we feel it’s going to be more of an issue to go over trying to talk to somebody, for our safety, we just call the police.”
Lucille Holt-Colden, the woman who hired Reggie to mow her lawn and mother of his playmates, lives next door to the Krakoras. On July 4, she uploaded a video to Facebook, clearly irritated at the harassment. Holt-Colden said that this time, the police sent two cars after receiving a call from the Krakoras, and said that if she has to “resort to social media to get some help, that’s what I’m gonna do.”
“We’re fed up; totally ridiculous,” an exasperated Holt-Colden said in the Facebook video she shot of the incident. “Police [are] being called because the kids are playing in water. Maple Heights Police, you ain’t got nothing else better to do, do you?! Mayor, what you gon’ do?! Maple Heights chief of police, what you gon’ do?!,” ending the post with “It’s time for a change.”
Maple Heights Police Lt. Joe Mocsiran said that his hands are tied as it regards the Krakoras, as long as the family is using the non-emergency line.
“There’s only a law for abuse of 911 and that’s if there’s no law actually broken,” Mocsiran said. “If there’s no laws being broken [by the Krakoras], there’s nothing we can do.”
However, many social media beg to differ:
Apparently, the Krakoras’ ongoing dispute with Holt-Colden began after she and her children moved in next door in October.
The couple say they’ve been getting backlash from the original story, but insist they’re not racist.
“We’ve seen this community change,” Linda Krakora said. “If we were racists, we would have moved out of Maple Heights a long time ago, but we didn’t. We stayed.”
Reggie Fields’ mother, Brandy Marie Fields, who is familiar with the Tamir Rice story—where another 12-year-old from Ohio (Cleveland) was killed after police were called on him—says the Krakoras are to blame for the public backlash.
“You asked for the wrong attention when you didn’t handle the situation correctly,” she said.
Unfortunately, Mic reports that Lucille Holt-Colden, who has lupus, is now thinking of moving.
“What about my kids? Who’s going to stand up for my kids? People say don’t move,” she said. “Your kids ain’t the one feeling like they can’t do nothing at their own house.”
Update: 5/5/20, 2:26 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to remove a broken video player.