Family wrongly suspected of suspicious activity on Nextdoor

HUMBLE, Texas (KTRK) -- Communities are connected now more than ever. Social media apps allow neighbors to get the word out quickly about everything from lost dogs to suspicious activity.[br /][br /]What one person finds suspicious, someone might consider harmless.[br /][Ads /][br /]In northeast Harris County, a post on the site Nextdoor went to hundreds in the Summerwood community and nearby neighborhoods that a man and a woman were driving slowly along one of the main roads casing the neighborhood. The poster put out their license plate number and called police.[br /][br /]"They looked away and my instincts kicked in. I worked in the prison system for four years. When my instincts kick in, I am on target," the post stated.[br /][br /]As it turns out, it was a father teaching his daughter how to drive.[br /][br /]"I was just like what, wait a minute -- this is my husband and my daughter. Wait, hold on!" Zenia Ridley said.[br /][br /]Zenia said she often checks Nextdoor to see what's going on in the neighborhood.[br /][Ads /][br /]"I was a little furious for the simple fact they put the license plate number, they put the vehicle and said I was casing the neighborhood," added her husband Roland Ridley.[br /][br /]The family had just bought their 22-year-old daughter a truck days before. Roland Ridley said that was her first driving lesson. He didn't see anyone wave because he was focused on giving her directions.[br /][br /]Zenia said it was a misunderstanding. Roland added that he won't rule out that race was a factor. The man who made the Nextdoor post denied the claim, saying it just felt odd.[br /][br /]A spokesperson for Nextdoor says the company [url HREF="https://blog.nextdoor.com/2016/10/27/update-reducing-racial-profiling-on-nextdoor/" TARGET="" REL=""]changed the way people[/url] report suspicious activity after complaints of racial profiling in some of its Oakland neighborhoods. Since those changes, racial profiling conversations [url HREF="https://blog.nextdoor.com/2016/01/27/our-commitment-to-end-racial-profiling-on-nextdoor/[br /]" TARGET="" REL=""]have dropped 75 percent[/url].[br /][Ads /][br /]The Ridleys won't say this was racial profiling, but they do hope everyone using neighborhood networking sites learn from their experience.[br /][br /]"I really want them to learn not all black people are bad, and not all black people are trying to hurt," Roland said.[br /][br /]"Your gut was wrong this time," added Zenia. "Again, I'm all for us being together as a community reporting crime and sticking together. But be sure."[br /][br /][url HREF="https://abc13.formstack.com/forms/report_a_typo" TARGET="" REL=""][b]Report a typo to the ABC13 digital staff[/b][/url][br /][url HREF="http://abc13.com/apps/" TARGET="" REL=""][media ID="1781779" /][/url]