Police investigating report of decapitated baby doll found underneath ‘Free Palestine’ flag in Ohio resident’s yard
By Jessica Xing, CNN
(CNN) — Detectives are investigating a report of a decapitated baby doll found underneath a “Free Palestine” flag in an Ohio resident’s yard, according to a police report.
Video from a neighbor’s camera shows a man in dark clothing approaching the flag and placing something on the ground at 10:25 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the incident report from the police department in Sylvania Township, a suburb of Toledo.
About eight minutes earlier, a similarly dressed man is seen mowing the grass in the center boulevard across from the home, according to the report.
It’s unclear whether the man mowing the grass is the same man seen on video approaching the flag, police said, citing the fact that the incident takes place too far from the camera.
Neighbors were also unable to identify the man mowing the grass, though they had seen him doing so previously, according to the police report.
When reached by CNN, police could not confirm whether the incident was being investigated as a hate crime.
CAIR calls for hate-crime investigation
Faten Odeh, interim executive director of Cleveland’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Wednesday police should do their due diligence and consider a hate-crime charge.
“We should all feel safe in our neighborhoods and be able to display our heritage without fear of hate-filled retaliation from our neighbors,” Odeh said in a statement.
CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, has said reports of assault, intimidation and harassment against Muslims are on the rise since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.
In a report published in late October, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it received 774 complaints from October 7 through October 25, compared to an average 16-day period last year, when CAIR said it received about 225 complaints.
The non-profit said this is the largest wave of reports logged since late 2015, but cautioned the true number of incidents was likely much higher.
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CNN’s Rikki Klaus and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
