Woman's racist road rage attack on Korean-American veteran caught on camera

A woman who launched a racist tirade against a Korean-American veteran in California during a road rage incident was caught doing so on camera.

The woman was driving in Fremont, California, when she launched a verbal attack on James Ahn, a US Air Force veteran, yelling at him: “Go back to China, get out of my country”.

Mr Ahn posted on Facebook about the incident, writing that “this lady started the racial harassment while threatening me on the road only because I wasn't driving fast enough for her...I was driving at the posted speed limit of 35mph but she wanted me to move out of her way cause she was speeding”.

The person in his passenger seat began filming as Mr Ahn moved to one side of the road in order to let her pass because they were worried she would cause an accident or do something else dangerous. The unidentified woman can be seen pulling her eyes to the side in what appeared to be an insult to Mr Ahn’s Asian ethnicity.

“I later realised that this was more like a hate crime than a road rage. There was no other incident before my friend started filming her to save the road rage footage of her incase she ended up crushing my car,” Mr Ahn wrote.

“This is not your f****** country. This is my country. This is not Chinese. Oh my God. Chinese, ugly! Go back to f****** China you ugly chinese!,” the woman screamed in the video.

Neither Mr Ahn or his friend said anything to the woman while she was ranting at them. The post has been shared more than 4,000 times and the video seen more than 450,000 times.

“FYI racist lady, this is my country since I am a citizen plus veteran currently serving this country,” Mr Ahn said in the post.

Mr Ahn also said he found the Fremont Police Department “disappointing” in a separate Facebook post on his personal page that had screenshots of a series of tweets to the police’s public account.

It appeared the police said they were unable to do anything about the incident since Mr Ahn nor his passenger was in an accident with the woman. “Stop treating someone who is trying to file a report like a clown,” Mr Ahn wrote, adding that the other driver was not being charged with a hate crime because she was “not violent enough”.

He appeared to be responding to this tweet from the police, who said they had investigated the matter but “could not establish a crime. Sadly hate speech in and of itself is not a crime.
This incident is not reflective of our diverse & compassionate City”.

US Congressman Eric Swalwell, who represents Fremont, also responded to the incident. He said “this woman does not represent Fremont, which is a diverse, inclusive community. But she’s a reminder of the hate that still exists in America and the work we all have ahead. Thank you, James Ahn, for your service to America”.