Black homeowner Jennifer McLeggan began very publicly reporting recently that she has been repeatedly harassed and threatened by her white neighbors in her Long Island, New York, neighborhood. The single mother and registered nurse says she has video footage that shows a man throwing feces and dead squirrels in her yard. Her outcries have led people to rally to her side.
A Black man identified as Anthony, who goes by @Flow349 on Twitter, has taken it upon himself to ensure McLeggan’s safety after learning of her situation. He drew more attention to the woman’s plight on social media by detailing her alleged abuse and calling on the community to patrol the area. He also began to stand guard outside her home for 12-hour shifts in order to provide protection for McLeggan and her child.
He records the shifts sitting inside his car outside McLeggan’s home by streaming on Instagram Live for his own safety. He was outside her home when a man on a bicycle approached him with a box of pizza. The entire exchange was caught on video. The man can be heard telling Anthony that they see what he is doing to protect McLeggan and that he will “Get pizza every night.”
After the man leaves, Anthony can be heard saying, “Bro just dropped me off a pizza!…They heard I was out here, just rode up on a bike, brought me a pizza.” The video, posted to Twitter on July 16, has been viewed nearly 50,000 times.
While McLeggan has only lived in the Sapir Street since 2017, she says the abuse started not long after she moved in. She says her neighbors became preoccupied with the admittedly less-than-ideal state of McLeggan’s yard and began calling code enforcement on her.
“I bought the property when I was pregnant, and this is the truth, the property was in bad shape,” said McLeggan to local station ABC 7. “I’m trying my best to make every effort to clean the property. I’ve done my best to clean the property. I mow the lawn, when there’s snow out here I’m shoveling the snow by myself. I’m doing what I can to keep the property clean. 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. 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,” she told local station ABC 7.
McLeggan began posting signs on her home this month that describe some of the harassment she’s claims she’s faced at the hands of her neighbors.
“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.”
Newsday reports that police say McLeggan and one of her neighbors have been in a long-running dispute in which both sides have called police on each other many times.
“The lady put some signs on her fence and her front door saying she’s being harassed because it’s racially motivated,” said Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told the newspaper. “The neighbor on the other side, he said that he’s being harassed,” Ryder added.
A GoFundMe started for McLeggan by a woman named Erica Coreas this week, has raised more than $30,000.
Local police are investigating her allegations, and McLeggan’s neighbors have rallied around her in her defense, with activists marching through her neighborhood on July 13 to support her.
On social media, users have gotten in touch with Anthony, who plans to continue guarding McLeggan’s home, to find out what supplies he may need.
