Berkeley woman faces hate crime charges after calling cops on Black delivery driver
A 35-year-old Berkeley woman is facing hate-crime charges after she called police on a Black delivery driver. Video shows her yelling racial slurs at the driver. She called the police because she says she saw the driver speeding. The driver was happy a neighbor recorded the video.
BERKELEY, Calif. - A Berkeley woman is facing possible hate crime charges after she called police on a Black package delivery driver.
The incident was caught on camera and she was heard yelling racial slurs at the man.
Kendall McIntosh, the delivery driver, says he is upset by the incident, but he's also relieved that a witness shot cell phone video of what happened.
It shows a white woman yelling expletives and racial slurs at McIntosh.
A neighbor videotaping the incident can be heard saying, "Hey I got that on film lady."
"I initially thought it was just somebody having a bad day. I thought me ignoring her, she goes her way, I go my way," says McIntosh.
During the 51-second long video, the woman can be heard yelling out racial slurs twice.
It happened on April 18 shortly before 8 p.m.
McIntosh says 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?"
The woman called police saying that she and her boyfriend had followed McIntosh after they saw him speeding
"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 says he left to continue making deliveries and returned when he learned officers had arrived at the scene.
Police arrested the woman and identified her as 35-year-old Julie Walrand of Berkeley.
She faces possible charges that include false imprisonment, battery and using offensive words 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 says. "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,"
He's grateful to the neighbors who witnessed the incident, "Without them, it becomes a he-said-she-said battle."
"That's the silver lining, that hate doesn't get a chance to grow in our community," says Berkeley city council member Ben Bartlett.
He says Berkeley passed legislation last fall that includes a hotline to report hate crimes," If you're a hater, you are not welcome here."
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley says Walrand was released the day after she arrested.
O'Malley says there's no charging decision yet.
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