(Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash)
By AFRO Staff
A White California woman and her boyfriend who chased and confronted a Black delivery man whom they accused of speeding have been charged with a hate crime, according to Berkeley police.
Police say on April 18 just before 8 p.m., officers responded to a report of a disturbance involving the driver of a package delivery service and another driver, who was later identified as Julie Walrand.
The 35-year-old woman told police that she and her companion felt the delivery man was driving too fast in the area and decided to follow and confront him.
During that altercation, Walrund “used force to prevent the package delivery person from leaving and used hateful language disparaging of people of color,” the authorities said in a press release.
Kendall McIntosh, the delivery driver, told Fox affiliate KTVU that he had just ended his shift and was going to help another driver on Delaware Street in Berkeley when the woman pulled up next to his van and starting yelling at him, “Who the f—do you think you are? Who do you think you are driving down my street like this?”
“I initially thought it was just somebody having a bad day. I thought me ignoring her, she goes her way, I go my way,” he said.
But, as was seen and heard on a 51-second video captured by a neighbor, Walrund continued hurling expletives and racial slurs at the driver, who decided to leave the scene and continue making deliveries.
“I was scared I didn’t know how it was going to run out so I thought the best thing to do was leave the situation,” McIntosh said.
Authorities said they arrested Walrund on charges of false imprisonment, battery, using offensive language and willfully threatening a person based on their perceived characteristics.
“I never wanted this to happen. I didn’t want to get to this point, but there’s too many incidents out here in America,” McIntosh said. “There’s similar stories like this where there is no video, no recording and people get away with that type of stuff. It’s just not right.”