NAPLES, Fla. — The viral video that you are about to watch is gruesome but was a reality for one woman in Naples who says she is lucky to be alive.
Near the Collier County Courthouse, along Airport Rd. and U.S. 41 last night around 7 p.m. heading home. One woman says she was approached by a man and decided to pull out her phone after be began yelling racial slurs at her.
The woman who asked to be identified as Mishou released this statement to Fox 4 telling us,
“I just want to bring awareness to the world that even when you’re minding your own business as a black individual, we still get looked at and talked down upon! even in Naples, Florida, this happens! I’m thankful to be alive,” said Mishou.
Mishou then decided to post the video to Twitter causing the tweet to go viral. That's where Yaritza Gary of Naples says she recognized this man in the video, from a Facebook post she made August 6th. She claims the same individual verbally attacked her brother after he tried to step in to calm this screaming individual down.
“The guy was yelling the “N-word”, and saying like, to say something, try to do something, watch what will happen to you,” said Yaritza Gary.
“Once my brother went next to him and asked the guy to stop, he started yelling “N-words” at my brother also, but it was mostly towards the elderly black man,” said Gary.
Gary’s brother, who wished to be identified by his first name Eddie, was unable to speak with us on camera but tells us in a statement,
“First thought came to mind was I have a family that depends on me and I have too much to lose because being a black man no words can describe the pain you feel when you experience such hate,” said Eddie.
Many locals on Twitter recognized this man claiming he is a local GrubHub delivery driver. We reached out to GrubHub to confirm and they tell us,
“We are in the process of investigating this incident based on the speculation and will take necessary actions as appropriate including terminating his contract and working with law enforcement if we find that he is one of our drivers,” said one spokesperson for GrubHub.
Naples police say they are working to get to the bottom of this.
“We are actively trying to identify and investigate as to whether a crime occurred, and we will work in conjunction, with the Collier County Sheriff's Office,” said Lieutenant Bryan McGinn with Naples Police Department.
Collier County Sheriff’s Office gave us the same response and posted it to Facebook asking the public for information.
Right now Gary says, for her brother's sake, and others, this man needs to be caught.
“These incidents are never just one incident, it’s going to keep happening and happening until something happens to this person, and that’s what we want to try to avoid,” said Gary.
Police are urging all community members to call in if you have any information on this case.
