Violence on Detroit street forces family to move

Police: Neighbors won't follow through with complaints

DETROIT – Duprey Street on Detroit's east side has turned into a regular stop for police, as neighbors say some residents are harassing and bullying them.

Neighbors said some boys in their late teens are verbally abusing them, assaulting them and pulling guns.

Calls to 911 from those homes come in so often, police said they can set their watch by them.

"Right now me and my kids are homeless," a woman said.

She said she left a home that she liked after what she called months of being terrorized by a family living in three houses down the block.

"The last straw was when they broke in my house," she said. "Not even when they put a gun in my face or spit on my baby, but when they broke in my house."

She's not alone. Six neighbors -- all single moms who said they are afraid to show their faces on camera -- said one family that lives in three homes on the block harasses them almost on a daily basis.

"I'm putting my house for sale and I'm gone," one woman said. "Because nothing (is being done) about this. These people are steady harassing people in this block."

But they said it's not ordinary harassment. The women said they've also had their pets stolen, garbage thrown on their lawn and they and their kids have been beaten up.

"It's every day," a woman said. "They don't have nothing to do but harass people. It's like they feed off of being bullies."

"I believe we need to do more," another woman said. "I don't think anyone should have to walk down their street without feeling safe."

Detroit police officers have been called to that street many times, and so far, filed 12 reports and made one arrest.

"We did not create that problem on that block, but I think we can solve those issues if we can just get people to talk," said Commander Charles Mahone of DPD.

Right now, the women refuse to talk.

The commander wants to get all parties involved face to face, but that's a nonstarter. Police said they are getting a lot of complaints, but no one is following through with those complaints.


About the Author:

Jason is Local 4’s utility infielder. In addition to anchoring the morning newscast, he often reports on a variety of stories from the tragic, like the shootings at Michigan State, to the off-beat, like great gas station food.