A Coatesville, Pennsylvania, woman is speaking out after she says a man shouted racial slurs at her during a road rage incident Friday.
Zhaqeyza Armstrong, 20, said she was driving home from work on Route 30. At some point she was behind a driver near the Thorndale exit. Armstrong admitted to NBC10 she may have been driving behind him too closely. She says the man then slammed his brakes, causing her to nearly run into him.
Armstrong then went into the left lane. She says the man drove beside her and began screaming at her.
“I had no music on. I didn’t say not one word to this man. I didn’t do anything but pull out my phone to record him,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong said the man then began calling her racial slurs.
“He starts with the racial slurs. ‘You n*****. Go back to Africa.’ Like he’s just screaming,” she said. “And he has no windows or doors on his car so I felt like he was inside of my car. I was by myself. He’s a huge man so I was terrified.”
Armstrong drove home after recording the encounter. She went to the Coatesville Police Department but was told she had to file the report with the state police since the incident occurred on the bypass. Armstrong said she gave state police the driver’s license plate number.
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State police said there wasn’t much they could do because the vehicle wasn’t registered to the man who was yelling at her.
“At first on Friday they told me it would just be a traffic violation and there’s nothing they can do,” Armstrong said. “He’s allowed to say whatever he wants and it would just be aggressive driving.”
Armstrong then posted the video on Facebook. The post went viral and at one point had 400 shares and 45,000 views. Some people in the comments then identified the man.
“People were threatening him because the video went viral on Facebook before they took it down,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong said the man in the video then filed a report with state police, claiming Armstrong was the aggressor during the situation and that she threw items out of her window. State police then questioned Armstrong again.
Armstrong denied the man’s allegations and said the only reason the man went to the police was because he was embarrassed on social media.
Pennsylvania State Police told NBC10 they are currently investigating the incident and they could not comment on an active investigation. Facebook took down the original video.
Police advise drivers to not be aggressive themselves when in the middle of a road rage situation and to avoid setting off other drivers. They also say to call 911 right away and pull over to a populated area, preferably the parking lot of a police station.
