A 61-year-old Farmington Hills man has been charged with ethnic intimidation and assault after threatening a postal worker over receiving campaign mail featuring Vice President Kamala Harris. Authorities say Russel Valleau used a derogatory term and made threats toward the postal worker before being arrested.
According to the Oakland County prosecutor’s office, Valleau became upset after receiving the campaign material and told the postal worker he didn’t want it in his mailbox, initially referring to Harris with a derogatory term.
He then repeated the term at the postal worker in a threatening tone, and approached her with a knife, prompting her to use pepper spray in self-defense.
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Valleau was charged with felony ethnic intimidation, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He also faces a misdemeanor assault charge, punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald condemned the incident, stating that hate crimes have a wide-reaching impact on communities.
“No one should be assaulted or threatened because of their race or for doing their job,” McDonald said, pledging to pursue such cases vigorously.
The incident follows a pattern of ethnic intimidation cases. In a separate case, a Wayne County sheriff’s deputy was recently acquitted of similar charges related to a racial slur incident.
