Driver Throws Out Woman Asking If He's A 'Normal' Guy Who Speaks English [Watch]
KEY POINTS
- The Lyft driver posted a video on social media of the exchange that has gone viral
- A man who was with the female passenger threatened the driver with assault
- The woman, a bar owner, shut down her Facebook page following the outrage
A video that went viral on social media appeared to show a Lyft driver kicking a woman out of his car for making racist comments.
James W. Bode posted the video on Instagram and said the incident occurred Friday night in Pennsylvania.
Bode greeted the woman as she climbed into the back of his car.
“You're like a white guy,” she said, according to Insider.
"What's that?" he asked her.
"You're like a white guy?" she responded. "You're like a normal guy... like you speak English?"
“Nah, you can get out of the car,” Bode then tells the woman.
"That's inappropriate," the driver added. "That's completely inappropriate. If somebody was not white sitting in this seat, what would be the difference?"
Another guy is seen at the door of the vehicle but before he could enter, Bode repeats the woman’s words and reiterates that he will not be driving them in his car.
The man told Bode: “You’re a f---- a----. I should punch you in the f--- face.”
The confrontation ends with the woman and her male companion walking away with Bode saying he will be filing a police report against them.
“You guys are racist f-----,” Bode told the pair.
The video was widely shared online after Bode posted about the verbal tussle on social media.
Bode wrote on Facebook and said he had filed a police report “only because of the assault threat” but added that he wasn’t sure if “that will do anything.”
“If you make me feel uncomfortable, I will absolutely do the same, especially in my car or property,” he went on to say. “Yes they were made aware I was recording, yes I have postings in my car indicating such.”
The incident reportedly took place outside Fossil’s Last Stand, a bar in Catasauqua, and the woman was identified as the owner, Jackie Harford, according to The Morning Call.
The viral video sparked outrage online and reportedly prompted the woman to shut down her bar’s website, its Facebook page as well as her own personal profile.
Bode posted an update on Facebook after receiving an outpour of support for throwing the passengers out of his car.
“For everyone reaching out and showing support, thank you. I appreciate it, truly,” he wrote. “But this is the way it should be everywhere, every time. I shouldn’t be ‘the guy’ who did it or said it…we should all be that person. Speak up if you’re uncomfortable with it because it makes them uncomfortable, as they should be. F--- racism.”