A man seen in a viral video yelling racial slurs at a driver after a crash in California’s Central Valley has been identified as a firefighter with the Alameda County Fire Department. The department is investigating the incident.
The crash happened Friday morning on Highway 99 between Armstrong Road and Harney Lane in Lodi, the driver who shot the video told KCRA. The video, taken from Vath Touch’s car, shows another man approaching Touch’s driver’s window to argue over who was at fault.
During the argument, Touch says to the man, “The police are coming.” The man replies, “Oh, the police are definitely coming, you stupid Mexican… or whatever you are, Filipino.”
The man later tells Touch, “I hope you have insurance, but I doubt it. You’re probably going to be mowing the lawn.”
Touch says, “Don’t be racist, bro. Don’t be racist.”
The man responded by saying, “I’m not a f—— racist. I’m a f—— firefighter,” while pointing to a Stockton Fire Department logo on his T-shirt. The man also tells Touch to go back to “your $10 an hour job, bitch.”
As the argument continues and the man gets closer to Touch’s face, Touch tells him, “Don’t spit on me,” to which the man responds, “I’ll spit on you all f—— day.” As Touch holds his hand in front of him, the man punches Touch in the hand and says, “Get your hand out of my f—— face.”
Sunday evening, after the video went viral, the Stockton Firefighters Union posted a message on social media posted a statement stating “Just to be clear, this is not a firefighter from Stockton, California. We don’t know who this is, but it’s definitely not one of our people.”
Later Sunday evening, the Alameda County Fire Department admitted that the video “depicted a verbal interaction between one of our members and a community member.”
“We have noticed that during this interaction, language was used that is inconsistent with the values and standards that we adhere to as an organization,” a message on Facebook said.
Alameda County Fire Chief William McDonald released a statement saying, “Our department is committed to gathering all the facts and we are addressing this situation in a manner that reflects our commitment to integrity, professionalism and community trust. Our goal is to ensure that we continue to serve our community with the highest level of respect, both on and off duty.”
McDonald was scheduled to hold a press conference at 9 a.m. Monday to discuss the incident at 6363 Clark Avenue in Dublin.
