A Massachusetts man accused of following a man home after a road rage incident and attacking him in his driveway while yelling racial slurs was jailed on hate crime charges.
Police arrested 41-year-old John Thomas McNeil for the March 16 incident in Everett, a city just north of Boston.
According to Middlesex County prosecutors, McNeil and the victim were stopped at a red light, and when it turned green, McNeil didn’t move.
When the victim honked at him, McNeil began “driving aggressively and blocking the victim from turning into his driveway when he reached his home,” prosecutors wrote in a release.
Authorities say McNeil stepped out of his car and started shouting racial slurs and insults at the other driver.
Then he attacked the victim by pushing and striking him in the face, all while continuing to yell racial slurs.
After the assault, McNeil fled the scene.
After he was arrested, he was arraigned on charges of assault and battery to intimidate based on race, a civil rights violation, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and operating with a suspended license.
McNeil’s bail was set at $500. His next court date is in May.
“In Middlesex County we are committed to appropriately charging and holding accountable those who threaten and assault others because of their race or ethnicity,” District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. “In this case the defendant is alleged to have taken a horn beep in traffic as justification for a pursuit, a barrage of racial slurs and an assault. Such random violence, especially when coupled with hate, is extraordinarily dangerous, to individuals and to our communities. We have previously seen how tragically these situations can end. We will not tolerate this conduct.”
Authorities never identified the racial background of the victim or the epithets McNeil used in the attack.
According to Census data, more than 50,000 people lived in the city of Everett in 2023, 42.6 percent of whom were white, 12.8 percent of whom were Black, 31.3 percent of whom were Hispanic or Latino, and 7.8 percent were Asian.
A Massachusetts man accused of following a man home after a road rage incident and attacking him in his driveway while yelling racial slurs was jailed on hate crime charges.
Police arrested 41-year-old John Thomas McNeil for the March 16 incident in Everett, a city just north of Boston.
According to Middlesex County prosecutors, McNeil and the victim were stopped at a red light, and when it turned green, McNeil didn’t move.
When the victim honked at him, McNeil began “driving aggressively and blocking the victim from turning into his driveway when he reached his home,” prosecutors wrote in a release.
Authorities say McNeil stepped out of his car and started shouting racial slurs and insults at the other driver.
Then he attacked the victim by pushing and striking him in the face, all while continuing to yell racial slurs.
After the assault, McNeil fled the scene.
After he was arrested, he was arraigned on charges of assault and battery to intimidate based on race, a civil rights violation, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and operating with a suspended license.
McNeil’s bail was set at $500. His next court date is in May.
“In Middlesex County we are committed to appropriately charging and holding accountable those who threaten and assault others because of their race or ethnicity,” District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. “In this case the defendant is alleged to have taken a horn beep in traffic as justification for a pursuit, a barrage of racial slurs and an assault. Such random violence, especially when coupled with hate, is extraordinarily dangerous, to individuals and to our communities. We have previously seen how tragically these situations can end. We will not tolerate this conduct.”
Authorities never identified the racial background of the victim or the epithets McNeil used in the attack.
According to Census data, more than 50,000 people lived in the city of Everett in 2023, 42.6 percent of whom were white, 12.8 percent of whom were Black, 31.3 percent of whom were Hispanic or Latino, and 7.8 percent were Asian.
