A man who allegedly threatened to shoot a Black DoorDash driver has been arrested and charged with ethnic intimidation and aggravated menacing.
www.beaconjournal.com
"A man caught on video threatening to shoot a Black Door Dash driver has been arrested and charged with ethnic intimidation, a fifth-degree felony, and aggravated menacing, a first-degree misdemeanor. James Rhodes, 53, pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor, and the felony charge is being referred to a Summit County grand jury following a court appearance Tuesday.
Videos capture Rhodes getting out of his car, yelling at a woman and calling her a racial slur. He then states that he has an AK-47 in his car and threatens to use it on the woman. Subsequent videos show the man and other people yelling racially charged comments back and forth. According to a police report, the 22-year-old Akron woman had a 3-year-old boy in the car."
They literally arrested this guy for voicing his free speech; but they didn't arrest the darkie and that darkie loving **** for saying offensive and disrespectful things back to the man....with one calling the man a "white ass *****" -- which is definitely more racially charged than anything he called them. As the man himself said, he is tired of n-words and if you add on top of that the fact he may have been having a bad day; it's perfectly understandable for him to threaten to shoot a darkie if he sees one -- and besides, this guy pays a $1000 a month in rent; something that darkie couldn't make in who knows how long...
How is it that the police aren't asking what the so-called DoorDash driver was doing before she started recording?? Was she engaging in some drug deal and Mr. Rhodes caught her?? What about the 3 yr old boy in the car, what did he do that could have provoked Mr. Rhodes?? This cancel culture is out of control because there was a time that you could get out of your car and threaten to shoot anyone you wanted if they made you mad enough.
Okay. Let's take a step back on this video.
1. Is the white guy a racist? Based upon his own statements, a definite yes.
Is that a crime? No.
Was he arrested for using racist language? No. He was arrested for threatening the life of someone and the video was proof. If he had just said something like "you n****rs are all alike. It would be racist, but a racist threat or intimidation.
2. Did he claim to have a weapon in his car? Yes.
Is having a weapon in the car a crime? Depends on the state you are in and how it's stored.
Was he arrested for "claiming" to have a weapon in the car? No.
3. Did he threaten to use the weapon on the person he was yelling at? Yes.
Was he arrested for threatening deadly force? Yes.
The cops almost always do not arrest people that have threatened others, for one main reason:
They weren't there to witness the threat. A threat of deadly force has to have "proof," as threatening people is a misdemeanor. The video has provided the proof of the deadly threat and thus he could be arrested. I do think that the "ethnic intimidation" felony law is extreme though and should be ended. For the simple reason that overly angry people threaten others regardless of skin color. I would like to see this go all the way to the Supreme Court under an equal protection violation. It shouldn't matter the race of any individual threatened. The law should be the same for each of us.
Having said all of that, it would be nice if the entire scenario was shown, as we don't see what triggered it (which changes nothing, just curiosity). If you're having a bad day and are frustrated in traffic, tempers can fly.