An upstate New York community is reeling after a man went viral for a hateful, racist speech—insisting all Black and Latino people should be killed—in a supermarket parking lot.
Kevin and Cheryl Moses, a married Black couple, went to the Aldi’s in Cheektowaga—just outside of Buffalo—on Monday, according to The Buffalo News. Kevin shopped while Cheryl waited in the car, and when he returned, his wife complained that a man in another vehicle had allegedly hit their car.
Kevin told the local outlet that when he confronted the driver, the man quickly became aggressive and attacked him with racial slurs. The Buffalo News reported that the unidentified man even mentioned the racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket last year, which claimed the lives of 10 Black shoppers and workers and was spurred by a racist theory that white Americans will eventually be replaced by ethnic communities.
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“Right then, I got real disturbed and I started videotaping from that point on,” Kevin told The Buffalo News. “Then he went into the N-word again and, from there, everything is on the video.”
In a post originally shared Monday on Facebook, Talisha Moses shared two clips from the video, writing, “This is sickening this despicable person saying this to my father and stepmother .. he was caught damaging my fathers vehicle.”
In one video, which was apparently taken first, a white man can be seen putting groceries into the trunk of his orange Scion car as Kevin, who is filming, talks to him.
“You are a fucking n-----,” the man says, turning around to face the camera. “You’re not even fucking animal.”
“Kill all n------!” the man then chants after closing the trunk to his Scion and before putting away his shopping cart back at the supermarket. “Kill all s-----!”
Kevin urges the man to provide his name.
“Go away, n----- boy!” the man shouts instead.
“You are an example of an ignorant man, sir,” Kevin says.
In the second clip, the white man walks back from the store, toward his car and the person filming.
“Just gonna let you know you’re going to be on YouTube, sir,” Kevin says to the man walking towards him. “You just made YouTube!”
The man continues walking toward an orange Scion.
“Why don’t you call the police like n------,” the man says as he opens the door to his car. The man then uses the racial slur one last time before closing the door to the Scion and driving off.
Kevin posted under the pair of videos on Facebook, explaining why he decided to turn on his camera.
“When I told [the man] he damaged my vehicle he started off with the N-Word and said more people should have been killed at TOPS last year, that’s when I started recording the video,” he wrote. “He then left[.] Cheektowaga PD showed up and told me since the vehicle was parked they can’t write a report. I was given his issuance carrier name however no number or name.”
Kevin told the man that he called the police, The Buffalo News reported, but the man left the scene anyway.
“We are aware of an incident involving an individual using racist language,” the Cheektowaga police wrote in a Twitter statement Tuesday. “We take these incidents very seriously and are using all our resources to investigate it and will work with the Erie County District Attorney’s Office to determine if criminal charges will be pursued.”
Cheektowaga Police public relations captain Brian Coons told The Daily Beast that a police report had been filed after the incident took place and that the department has launched an investigation into the matter.
“We are working in conjunction with the Erie County District Attorney’s office,” Coons said. “When we get the results, or once we finish the investigation, that will be turned over to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office and they’ll decide what charges will be pursued.”
He added that the driver who hurled the hate speech has had previous run-ins with the police. Coons said the department will also bring in a behavioral health unit to assist with the investigation.
The Moses family did not immediately return The Daily Beast’s requests for comment Wednesday.
