Business owner, supporters burn KKK-like garments that were dropped off at her Redmond store

Published 6:56 pm Tuesday, May 17, 2016

From Rags to Riches owner Leona Coakley-Spring and her supporters burned the Ku Klux Klan-like garments on Tuesday afternoon that a man dropped off at her Redmond consignment store in January. The burning took place in Coakley-Springs’ neighbor’s back yard in Redmond.

As reported last month, the aftereffects of the incident still linger. The Redmond resident no longer feels safe at her downtown store and has trouble even walking through the doorway.

The news that the man who dropped off the items — a white robe, white hood with eye holes and a loose rope — will not be charged with malicious harassment has not helped.

Coakley-Spring, who is black, is still traumatized by the event and is now selling her business, said Bobby Alexander, who spoke to the Redmond Reporter last month on Coakley-Spring’s behalf.

After a three-month-long investigation, Becky Range, public information officer for the Redmond Police Department (RPD), said their investigation found that it was difficult to show that the man’s actions were an intentional threat against Coakley-Spring or her family.