Jennifer McLeggen, an African-American Long Island nurse has been facing constant racial harassment from a neighbor who's been trying to force her out of her house since she moved in.
When a pregnant Jennifer McLeggen first moved into her Long Island home two and a half years ago. When she bought the property, it was in bad shape so she kept the house maintained herself with house maintenance, mowing both the front and back lawn and even shoveling snow. Despite all of that, she still faced harassment from her neighbor who repeatedly sabotaged her efforts.
McLeggen even had to put trash into her garage until she can talk to someone about getting her garbage picked up.
"I kept on noticing dog feces. I kept on noticing ticket ordinances from the Valley Stream Village town. I keep getting tickets. I keep seeing dog feces."
This in addition to her white neighbors throwing dead squirrels into her yard. McLeggen even set up video cameras where she not only caught video evidence. She also caught them on camera saying she could be erased as well.
"I installed a camera here. I caught my neighbor throwing dog feces in front of my property. I took that video to court, and I won a judgment."
Her neighbors have also filed complaints against McLeggan as well. Despite the court judgement and the camera footage, Nassau County detectives have yet to make any arrests.
"At this time, we do not have any evidence of any bias," Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told ABC 7. "But that does not mean that it is not there. We have more work to do."
"There's no arrest, no restraining order," McLeggan said. "So they're kind of waiting for me to drop dead in here before they can help me."
Her story went viral on Twitter and other social media outlets. People staged protests in front of her McLeggen's house in support to the single mother. Many of her support system come from other neighbors in which a few of them claimed to have been harassed by the white neighbors when they moved in. McLeggen went as far as post a sign letting everyone know in case she died, she did all she could to let police know.
"In case something happens to me here, then somebody would know I'm in the house with a baby," she said. "If I die in here, at least cops would see the sign."
There's been rallies and demonstrations in the neighborhood for McLeggen and everyone agrees there's still more work to be done. Many groups like Bikers United have stepped out in support of Ms. McLeggen.
Go to the Opinion Section for my take.
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