Couple helpless after being harassed by racist neighbor

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A couple in northwest Houston is feeling frustrated after they say their neighbor has harassed and threatened them because they are black.

They say they notified police, only to be told there is nothing they can do if the man has not trespassed on their property.

The couple just moved into their new home on Tuesday. They say the harrassment has gotten so bad, they began recording him. 

"I don’t like black people," the neighbor says in one of the videos. "I just want to let you know that up front."

They do believe their neighbor is mentally ill, but they say that is no reason for them live in fear and something needs to be done.

The couple is fearful to show give their identities.

"It is really scary because I didn’t expect that to happen," said the wife in tears. "You know we have a 3-year-old and 5-month-old and we were just wanting to move in and just have that happy home life."

She recalled their first encounter with the man shortly on the day the moved in.

"We went to put some stuff in the house," she told FOX 26. "And then as soon as I opened the door to go back out to get more stuff, he was just standing there shirtless."

"And then the next thing, he just broke into saying, 'So I was beat up eight times by a black person. But not all black people are bad,'" she explained.

"I kind of gave him a pass," said the husband. "I just said, 'Hey, you have a good night. We’re good people as well.'"

They say the following day, the neighbor suddenly began threatening a family member who is helping them move. 

On Thursday, the husband began to record the neighbor when he noticed the man appeared to be making a group of teenagers in the neighborhood uncomfortable.

"We were speaking in a calm manner and, then all of a sudden, when I told him I would call the police if he acted up like that he started screaming," he recalled.

The husband says he felt the neighbor would attack him, he grabbed a bat and waited for police to arrive.

"It took the police an about 50 minutes to an hour to come," he said. "They didn’t do anything to him, but they told me that if he stepped in my property, I could do whatever I wanted to protect myself."

He says he showed police the videos of the man making racial epithets and acting irrationally.

"I don’t want to have to live in fear in my own home," said the wife.

They say the neighbor has cameras outside his home and told them he was watching them at all times.

"He may be mentally unstable but only to the point where he was traumatized. He needs to be somewhere where he can be supervised," concluded the wife.