Police arrested a Black Colorado couple who claim they’ve been the target of racial harassment by their white neighbors in recent years.
In 2017, Courtney Mallery and his wife, Nicole, moved to Colorado after Hurricane Harvey swept through Louisiana and Texas, Complex reported.
Three years later, they bought a 1,000-acre ranch in El Paso County, a predominantly white town near Colorado Springs. But, shortly after turning the property into a home, their excitement dwindled because their surrounding neighbors allegedly began terrorizing them in multiple ways: burning their Black Lives Matter flags, poisoning their dogs, killing livestock, driving vehicles onto the property to block them from leaving, writing racial slurs on the ranch and more.
Due to the horrific actions people in the community took to scare them, the Mallerys filed multiple complaints to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. But unfortunately, local authorities haven’t been very responsive, nor have they tried to help find a solution to stop the constant attacks and threats to their lives. So, the couple started using social media to document what’s been happening as a cry for help.
On Monday, seeking outside help backfired because the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office arrested the Mallerys and charged them with stalking, petty theft and tampering with a utility meter, The Gazette reported. Courtney was arrested before Nicole, so to ensure her husband stayed alive while in custody, she livestreamed the arrest and asked anyone watching to call the sheriff’s office.
“Let’s flood these lines to make sure that Courtney Mallery is not harmed while he’s in custody,” she said while documenting, according to Complex.
Since sharing their story, they’ve gone viral, causing people and organizations like the NAACP to demand answers on why the couple’s complaints have gone ignored for so long and to question the cause of their arrests. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement claiming the arrests happened after an investigation.
The Mallerys said they believe the county wants the land, so they think the officials are letting the harassment continue and trying to turn the couple into the bad guys, according to Ark Republic.
“We are upset, we are here to fight, but they’re trying to silence us and make us look like we’re crazy. They [are] trying to steal my land and lock us up to cover this up,” Courtney Mallery told the media outlet.
“I would really hope that the El Paso County Sheriff’s department and several others in rural areas understand that we’re taking this very seriously,” Rocky Mountain NAACP President Portia Prescott told 9 News. “It needs to be taken a lot more seriously than they have taken it in the past.”
Complex reported Nicole Mallery’s hearing was scheduled for Thursday, and Courtney Mallery is set to appear in court on Valentine’s Day.