Oct 31, 2007 6:53 pm US/Eastern
Former Boxer Finds Noose Around Head On Doorstep
L.I. Resident Says He May Be Targeted For Taunts In Match Against Butterbean In '02
VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. (CBS) ―
Police are investigating yet another possible hate crime on Long Island after a noose was found wrapped around a homemade, black-faced head left on the doorstep of a Valley Stream home.
Former amateur boxer Mitchell Rose appears to be the one targeted in the incident.
"How do we defend ourselves, I mean, what kind of country is this?" Rose says.
Rose tells CBS 2 he found the noose around 7 a.m. Wednesday when he came outside to pick up the morning paper. He then turned around to find the object left hanging from a lantern on his porch.
"Big mannequin, with a Muslim hat on, like they hung a Muslim," Rose says. "Black face -- pretty brazen."
The noose also had a note attached with the N-word written on it.
"These guys were calculated, determined to send a hate message," Rose says.
Rose, who was a standout Golden Gloves boxer in the 80s, had a fight in 2002 against world-renowned boxer Eric "Butterbean" Esch. Mtichell won the match in two rounds, and says he taunted his opponent, who is white and from Alabama, by coming out in Ku Klux Klan costume, and then wrote about it in a book, which he believes may have incited some white boxing fans.
"Yeah, possible, strong possibility. People could definitely be mad about something like that," he admits.
Nassau police took the evidence for forensic testing.
Rose says he's not so much worried for his own safety as he is for the safety of his wife and children.
"I got some anger and a little fear, maybe a combination of both," he says.
Rose also speculates that his house may have been targeted because is wife is a corrections officer at Sing Sing Prison.
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