Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell recently explained that he was selling his home amid security concerns.
He said that “people figured out where we lived when we lost” the NFC Championship Game but didn’t go into further details. Now, further information is coming out on the matter and some of the harassment that Campbell and his family faced leading to the decision is shocking.
According to a report by Robert Snell of The Detroit News, the family’s home address was publicly leaked via social media by his daughter’s classmate earlier this year. Per the report, this led to multiple instances of harassment and unwanted visitors at the property.
Snell wrote that, according to police reports, multiple people arrived at the residence in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, on the night of Jan. 28, hours after Detroit’s NFC title game loss vs. the San Francisco 49ers. A team security official then reached out to the police that night and an investigation revealed that a male high school classmate of Campbell’s daughter posted the family’s home address on Snapchat with the accompanying text of: “Dumb f— trying to go for it.”
The report added that the fourth-year coach and his wife were still out west at the time but became “nervous for the safety of their daughter.” Campbell’s daughter was reportedly at the Michigan residence that evening with her boyfriend, who “went outside in his vehicle and flashed his headlights at anyone approaching causing these people to turn off and leave.”
Police then patrolled the residence for “the next several days” and the daughter’s classmate was identified and questioned the next day, though not charged with any crimes.
This instance of passionate fans taking things too far isn’t anything new but hopefully will act as a warning to any others who think about repeating similar harassment. There are always better ways to take out the frustration of a playoff loss than something as potentially dangerous as what transpired with the Campbell family in the Detroit suburb.
According to the report, the Campbells moved to an unidentified new location earlier this year and haven’t received any further harassment.
