SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — A viral video currently circulating on Reddit that shows a Black man and his children being yelled at in their car by a group of white people was taken in February, according to Corporal Mark Gregory with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office.
The video is drawing a lot of strong reaction on a popular subreddit called r/PublicFreakout since it was posted on Thursday night with the title "Driving a nice car while black." It has garnered more than 83,000 views and more than 9,000 comments.
Some viewers likened it to other videos that have recently circulated, where white women threaten to call the police on people of color.
In the video, a woman is seen approaching the man's car on East Sprague Avenue in Spokane Valley and asking him how he got it. She is with another man.
"Can you get out? It's my car," she says in the video.
WARNING: The video below contains profanity.
Later, a man on a motorcycle approaches the car to say it belongs to the woman. He tells the driver to get out of the vehicle while trying to open the car doors. The driver then slams the car door on the man's arm.
The driver calls 911 and begins to drive away with a person on the hood of his car. While on the phone, he says, "They're hitting my car with bicycles and motorcycles."
The driver's frightened children can also be heard in the video.
The victim made his way to Fred Meyer on Thor Street, where he was contacted by both the Spokane County Sheriff's Office and Spokane Police Department, Gregory said.
According to Gregory, the video shows a situation in where a woman misidentified her stolen vehicle "that had been missing for a long time."
Gregory said the driver was not cited for any of his actions trying to escape the situation, including slamming his car door on the motorcycle rider's arm.
“Obviously, the victim was not charged. We’re never going to charge someone for protecting their family," Gregory added.
The man on the motorcycle was trying to stop what he believed was a vehicle theft and "didn't cause damage or harm to anyone," Gregory said. He was not charged with a crime.
The man and woman who initiated the incident were charged with disorderly conduct, Gregory said.
Gregory said the man on the bicycle who is seen in the video did cause damage but he has not been identified.
