A Black teen was racially profiled and attacked while driving in Sanford, Florida, the same town where George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, Newsone reports. The teen, who’s been identified as Jermaine, shared a video of the incident on social media. In the clip, three white men and one white woman are seen harassing him. Jermaine, who was behind the camera, also showed footage of his backseat window smashed in.
Jermaine’s father first posted the video on Facebook, and the teen later shared it on Instagram, garnering thousands of views. He described what happened in the post’s caption, Revolt reports.
“I was racially profiled while driving through my [friend’s] neighborhood,” he wrote. “They didn’t like the way I was driving, so they felt the need to hit my car with a cone, and throw a rock through my window. All I wanted to do was de-escalate until police came, because I wasn’t about to get charges pressed on me for no reason.”
The footage also showed Jermaine’s car with dents, although it’s unclear if the damage was done by the group berating him.
As he was recording, the group continues yelling at him and approaching him aggressively.
According to Newsone, one of the men accused Jermaine of “burning out, racing through [his] neighborhood.” Another screamed at him to “get out of my neighborhood f**kwad.”
The teen asked one of them who was approaching him to “get out of [his face].”
The group also briefly mentioned a gun and being licensed to carry.
Jermaine’s sister shared the video on Twitter, saying that the group tried to physically harm her brother, and she commended his behavior during and after the attack.
“Yesterday my 16-year-old brother was racially profiled in a neighborhood in Sanford Florida, the same city as Trayvon Martin,” she wrote. “Luckily, he had a different fate. I commend my brother for how he reacted in the situation. They tried to throw a brick at his head, And missed.”
The men involved in the incident have been identified as Donald Eugene Corsi and Howard Oral Hughes, Heavy reports. They were arrested and are both facing felony charges.
Corsi has been charged with weapon offenses for allegedly sending a “missile” into a vehicle, while Hughes was charged with first-degree misdemeanor battery. Both men were additionally charged with criminal mischief for allegedly causing more than $1,000 in damages to property.
