A Boston man who went on an out-of-control rant against two black motorcyclists on his street has been charged with disorderly conduct, and may also be charged with a hate crime.
This all started with a car crash at the corner of Beaumont and Adams streets in Dorchester, Massachusetts. A motorist was fleeing an earlier hit-and-run, crashed again, and then tried to get away on foot, but because of that, part of the street was closed off and traffic was diverted onto surrounding residential blocks.
That’s when Nene Judge’Mayo and her friend pulled over to the side of the road on their motorcycles to try and figure out where they were, and according to them, when they were pulled over, this guy wandered up to them and started screaming.
https://www.facebook.com/nene.judge/videos/10211635107024581/
Yeah, there are a LOT of racial dog whistles in his language, from saying “I know you people,” “I don’t want this shit in my neighborhood,” and suggesting that he’s more likely to be shot because of their presence. Nene said she didn’t even know who he was screaming at at first. She said: “I looked around like, ‘who is he arguing with? When he came straight to me, I immediately pulled out my phone. I literally did nothing wrong. Now, I am so cautious as to where I ride my bike.”
Where Nene and her friend live seem to be of major importance to this guy, who’s actively trying to identify them as outsiders. Eventually, a police officer shows up to tell the guy to back off, and he’s hilariously despondent when the cop doesn’t pay attention to his argument.
Nene shared the video to her Facebook where it’s been seen over 800,000 times.
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The ranter has been identified as 54-year-old Paul Sheehan. He was arraigned on disorderly conduct charges and Boston’s civil rights unit is investigating to see if he should also be charged with a hate crime. While you can’t hear any specific epithets in the video, the police report says that he was arrested after repeatedly yelling “Fuck that [N-word],” and trying to knock over a Stop sign, and that arrest took place 90 minutes after the confrontation with Nene and her husband.
Sheehan is a welder for Keolis Commuter Services, which operates the transportation authority’s commuter rail system.
A spokesperson for the company told the Boston Globe: “We have absolutely no tolerance for this type of reprehensible conduct or language in or outside the workplace. The matter is under investigation, and we don’t comment on personnel matters.” But a local reporter says that Keolis is in the process of removing Sheehan from service.
Now, it’s very amusing that this chowdahead is wearing a New England Patriots vest, because of course he’s a fan of America’s most Trump-loving football team. But Nene’s got a lot of Pats Love on her Facebook page, as well.
So if you were looking at this as a perfect way to hate on the Patriots, this probably isn’t it.
Now, this officer has received some praise for effectively de-escalating the situation, but others online think he’s getting too much of a pat on the back for doing, as they say, the “bare minimum.”
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One commenter on The Root wrote: “True, he de-escalated the situation, but did he ask the victim if she wanted to press charges? Did he ask the man for his ID so that she could press charges on her own if she chose to?” And Dr. Old Spice: “No cookies to police for doing the bare minimum of their job, and giving the clear aggressor the chance to be gently herded back into his house instead of tazed and locked up. What black man would have walked away from this alive after screaming in a white woman’s face???”
That’s a good point, though we should hope that the majority of people get the “herded-back-to-their-house” treatment instead of the “shot-over-a-neighborhood-fight” treatment.
-What do you guys think? Should Paul Sheehan lose his Pats season tickets? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
