African American Family Claims They Were Chased Out Of Yorba Linda By Racism

YORBA LINDA (CBSLA.com) — An African American family of four said they were chased out of Yorba Linda because of repeated acts of racism.

The father of the family is an Inglewood police officer and the mother is an L.A. County Sheriff's deputy.

They said they moved to Yorba Linda in May 2011 because they thought it was a safe neighborhood.

The couple said they never imagined that they'd be subjected to racism.

"We didn't want to believe that that's still going on," the mother said.

The couple said vandals began targeting their home soon after they moved in. The vandals threw rocks through the front window of their home and slashed the tires of both their cars.

They filed a police report and assumed juveniles randomly targeted them.

"I just saw the escalation. I saw it went from property crimes to now acid, which somebody could potentially die," the mother said.

Then, the couple's 6-year-old son told them that a boy on the playground said he couldn't play there because he was black.

A year after they moved in, their older son confessed that people would often shout racial slurs to him as he rode his bicycle to work.

Finally, in October, as the father was pulling his car into the driveway he said someone shot or threw pellets of acid at the vehicle.

"My life felt threatened at that point," the father said.

The allegations have prompted the Orange County Human Relations Commission to take action. They plan on reaching out to African American residents in the county.

"There is racism there, just be aware and be kind to each other," the father said.

The couple said Brea police are investigating both police as simple acts of vandalism. They said detectives have not followed up with them about the probe.

Brea police did not return CBS2/KCAL9's phone call.

Their former Yorba Linda neighbors said they had never heard about incidents of racism.