Tracy Robert Blackwell, an older white male, was arrested after a video showing him in a bigoted fit of road rage flooded the internet.
The clip captured the 61-year-old hurling the N-word at another driver on southbound I-880 near Hegenberger Road in Oakland before he attempted to “intentionally ram the victim’s vehicle,” according to a statement from California Highway Patrol.
Officers from the California Highway Patrol became familiar with the crime after viewing the video on an Instagram post on Wednesday, May 17. The video was filmed by the victim of the verbal assault.
Blackwell can be heard on the now-viral video shouting out of his window, “F**k you n****r… F*****g n****r.” One of the frightened victims can be heard saying, “Call the police.”
In a statement regarding the arrest, the CHP said, “At one point during the video, it appeared the driver attempted to intentionally ram the victim’s vehicle before losing control and crashing into a wall on the right shoulder of the freeway.”
One person on social media said the crash was “instant karma” for his nasty attitude and counted his use of the N-word six times.
The police were also able to determine the incident happened on Tuesday, May 16 around 4 p.m., and identified Blackwell after further investigation.
They picked the man up in Newark, California, around noon on Friday, May 19, and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon, with hate crime enhancements. He was then booked into Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail, KTVU reports.
Blackwell has been in trouble with the law before. He is a convicted sex offender with a criminal history of drug use and burglary, according to the California Megan’s Law database.
He was arrested in December 2000 for allegedly stalking a 19-year-old woman and making “obscene phone calls” to her house, according to reports. During a probe into this accusation, police searched his home and found videotapes of Blackwell committing child sexual abuse.
This discovery led to his 2001 conviction, where he was found guilty of performing lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. He spent eight years in jail, according to SFGate.com.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office also confirmed Blackwell is a registered sex offender in California, according to KRON 4.
Blackwell is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.
