GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — A metro Detroit mother is speaking out after settling a federal civil rights lawsuit against her former neighbor, saying what her family experienced is still painful to relive.
Watch Carli Petrus' video report:
JeDonna Dinges says the situation began when her then-husband noticed a KKK flag hanging in the window of a neighboring home — directly facing the family's dining room.
PREVIOUS STORY: KKK flag displayed in Grosse Pointe Park home does not warrant Ethnic Intimidation charge, prosecutor says
"My ex-husband went to take the trash out, and when he came back in, he noticed a Klan flag in the window of our neighbor's home," Dinges said.
Dinges says she had already been dealing with disturbing incidents involving the neighbor before that moment in 2021, but says seeing the flag changed everything.
"To not feel safe in your own home. To have your child think someone's going to shoot through the window and kill them," Dinges said.
The family eventually left the Grosse Pointe Park neighborhood they had called home for more than a decade.
"Our primary responsibility is to keep our child or children safe, and I would tell her you're safe, it's going to be okay, you're fine, but she didn't believe it and neither did I," Dinges said.
We first covered this story back in 2021 when the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office denied a display warrant request against Dinges' former neighbor, determining no crime had been committed.
"The prosecutor said that there was no crime committed, so there was nothing that we could do there, but we knew what happened to us wasn't right," Dinges said.
In 2023, the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative at the University of Michigan contacted Dinges and filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on her behalf, accusing her former neighbor of racial intimidation and harassment.
"I was extremely excited when I got the call U of M was going to take the case," Dinges said.
Court records show a federal judge later ruled Dinges had enough evidence to move forward under the Fair Housing Act, finding the alleged conduct could reasonably be viewed as a pattern of racial harassment.
The case has since been settled. The terms of the agreement have not been released.
"If someone came and put $7 trillion on my porch and shrink-wrapped it so it wouldn't get wet, that would not be enough for what we went through," Dinges said.
Dinges says she is now using her experience to help others, including working to revise Michigan's ethnic intimidation law.
"So that we could change the laws so that we could help protect everyone in the state of Michigan from ethnic intimidation and hate-based crime," Dinges said.
The defendant's attorney has not yet responded to a request for comment.
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