A California jury convicted a 62-year-old man of felony assault with a deadly weapon and a hate crime enhancement for a road rage incident last year.
Tracy Robert Blackwell could spend up to seven years in prison for the violent episode in May 2023 that was caught on camera.
The incident started after the 62-year-old crossed several lanes of traffic to get to an on-ramp for a freeway in Oakland and cut in front of a car driven by a Black mother of three.
After nearly hitting her car, the woman honked her horn at Blackwell.
As both cars made their way up the ramp to the I-880 freeway, Blackwell started yelling the N-word and other expletives repeatedly at the woman and her children.
Once both cars were on the freeway, Blackwell got into a lane next to the woman and continued yelling racist obscenities at the family and throwing items from his car at their vehicle, which was caught on cellphone video by the woman’s 14-year-old daughter.
The viral video shows Blackwell screaming, “F*** you, n—,” at the family, saying the n-word half a dozen times.
The viral video also showed Blackwell wrenching his steering wheel to the left and almost crashing into the family’s car.
Blackwell was arrested and charged a few days after the incident. An Alameda County jury found Blackwell guilty on Sept. 5.
“Not only was this incident dangerous, it was traumatizing because of the racial abuse that was part of the crime,” Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said in a statement. “My office will not countenance any acts of racial hate in our community, especially when there are children involved.”
Blackwell is a convicted sex offender with a criminal history of drug use and burglary, according to the California Megan’s Law database.
In December 2000, he was arrested for allegedly stalking a 19-year-old woman and making “obscene phone calls” to her house, according to local reports. During an investigation into this accusation, police searched his home and found videotapes of Blackwell committing child sexual abuse.
He was subsequently convicted in 2001 of performing lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. He spent eight years in prison for the crime.
