A Virginia man was arrested after he was filmed yelling expletives and racial slurs at two Verizon store employees.
The incident occurred on July 15 in Stafford, Virginia, as reported by TMZ. The irate man, identified as Robert Colonna, was reportedly upset because a phone he bought from the store was pricey and did not work properly.
Last Sunday, Percell Wright, one of the employees, posted a video of Colonna’s tirade on Facebook. In the caption, Wright accused Colonna of attacking him while he was assisting another customer.
“[Colonna] assaulted me before entering store throwing phones inside store then picking them up leaving the store claiming he had something else for us,” he wrote.
“I IMMEDIATELY locked the door behind him. PLEASE help me get him FIRED. He used racial slurs and spit at me. I know his name is Robert,” the caption continued. “Robert initially pulled up to store in a company truck making a hard stop in front of store before jumping out and assaulting me while I was holding door for elderly man.”
In the video, Colonna told Wright the employee “put me on TV” before he complained about the company’s prices and spat on the door. Colonna grabbed a box on the ground and paced around the parking lot before he continued to rant and called his target a “f—–g n—-r.”
He also threw the box at the store’s glass window and banged it on the door as he shouted at Wright and his coworker. Colonna repeatedly pulled on the locked door and at one point, ran toward it as if he were going to force his way in. The police eventually arrived and Colonna directed his wrath at the responding officer, who calmly listened.
Wright said Colonna was charged with disorderly conduct. A police report obtained by TMZ confirmed the arrest and charge.
The video garnered more than 1,000 views and outraged comments from watchers. Many of them noted the cop’s demeanor toward Colonna.
“If this would had been a man of color the police would have exited there vehicle guns drawn, yelling get on the ground,” wrote one viewer. “This is the privilege of being Caucasian.”
“Dude, I’m very sorry that you had to go through this. And by this, I mean the psychotic guy and the cop that treated him as if he were a sane choir boy,” wrote another viewer. “To me, the latter was worse than the former as I know how this would have turned out if there were no cameras. He wouldn’t have been charged at all.”
“Another example of what happens when they lose their privilege…. yet, their lives are spared,” an observer pointed out.
