Black Couple Finds Decapitated Stuffed Animal Hanging In Backyard

COMMERCE TOWNSHIP (WWJ) -- A couple in Oakland County told police that they may be the victims of racial intimidation.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Department says the owner of a home on Lower Straits Lake in Commerce Township discovered a small stuffed animal hanging from a tree by a rope in his backyard. The stuffed animal had its head cut off and its arms taped behind its back.

The man and his wife are of African-American decent and believe this was an intentional form of ethnic intimidation.

The homeowner says his family has lived in the home for two years and during that time he's seen boaters pull up to their property and point at them.

The homeowner said that in June a neighbor had several people at a barbecue and he could hear someone call out a racial slur while his wife was in the yard.