After calling police on 12-year-old mowing lawn, couple reports child again on Fourth of July
The white Ohio couple who called the police on a 12-year-old boy, who is black and mistakenly cut part of their lawn while mowing their neighbor’s yard, have called the police on him again only a week and a half later, on July Fourth.
Along with a few other children, Reggie Fields, the CEO of Mr. Reggie’s Lawn Cutting Service, was invited for a barbecue hosted by his client Lucille Holt-Colden, who posted the initial video of the police visit that went viral.
Reggie and his friends were playing on a makeshift Slip ’N Slide when they allegedly wet the house of Randy and Linda Krakora. While this doesn’t seem like a serious transgression, the couple again called the police.
According to Mic.com, the Krakoras have called the police more than 60 times in the past 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 told Mic.com. “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.”
Because nothing is more dangerous than children having fun on Independence Day? The audacity…
Holt-Colden, who is the mother and grandmother of some of Reggie’s friends, was enjoying the barbecue with family and friends when two police cars pulled up. Holt-Colden took to social media again to post a video. She says, “We’re fed up; totally ridiculous.”
The police say that the call was in regards to her neighbor’s fence. “The report says [the Slip ’N Slide] caused a board to pop off the fence,” Maple Heights Police Lt. Joe Mocsiran told Mic.com. “If it’s a result of playing and there’s no criminal intent, then it becomes a civil matter.”
Mocsiran also elaborated that it isn’t a crime to use a non-emergency number for such issues. “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.”
The neighborly disputes have been ongoing since Holt-Colden and her children moved next door to the Krakoras in October.
Linda Krakora was not home when her husband initially called the police on June 23 about the lawn-mowing incident, and she insists that she and her husband are not racist.
“I’m sorry that the young man got scared, though I don’t really think they got as scared as he says because [Reggie’s cousins] were mouthing off to my husband when the police asked them to clear our driveway,” Linda Krakora said. “[Holt-Colden] is making this about race when race has nothing to do with it.”
“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.” She added that she is now receiving threatening phone calls and Facebook posts, including people walking by their house and taking photos, since Holt-Colden’s post went viral.
Meanwhile, Holt-Colden, who has Lupus, is thinking of moving because of these seemingly common interactions.
“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.”
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