Red Bank police Chief Darren McConnell said his department was alerted to the fliers Sunday night by a resident who found the offensive material in a plastic bag weighted down with rocks.
RED BANK --More than a dozen fliers attacking Martin Luther King Jr. and purporting to be from the Ku Klux Klan landed on the front lawns of homes in a small section of Red Bank and neighboring Fair Haven on the eve of the holiday celebrating the birthday of the slain civil rights leader.
Red Bank police Chief Darren McConnell said his department was alerted to the fliers Sunday night by a resident who found the offensive material in a plastic bag weighted down with rocks.
The fliers, on a white sheet of paper and claiming to be from a chapter of the KKK calling itself the Loyal White Knights, had a photograph of King with "KKK " along each side of the picture.
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A couple paragraphs of text referred to the civil rights activist as a "Communist pervert" and was followed by a "Klan hotline" phone number and a website address for the Pelham, NC-based group.
McConnell said the phone number goes to a recorded message reiterated the text on the flier.
The fliers were scattered randomly on the far eastern part of town, east of Prospect Avenue, he said. While they were disseminated Sunday night, McConnell said it appears they were meant to be in place for residents to find as they woke on Monday morning's federal and state holiday honoring King.
He said police are investigating it as a bias incident but they aren't labeling it a bias crime.
"It itself, the fliers aren't a crime because they weren't targeting any specific group," McConnell said.
After a resident reported the flier on Sunday night, officers went around looking for additional fliers and found some, but it became difficult to locate others because of the night's snowfall, McConnell said. Other residents turned in fliers on Monday morning, he said.
In all, police found and residents turned in at least a dozen fliers, he said.
The chief said that because they covered a somewhat large area, it appears the fliers were tossed from a moving car.
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
