Home Scandal and Gossip White Oregon man racist tirade against Black FedEx Driver, faces hate crime

White Oregon man racist tirade against Black FedEx Driver, faces hate crime

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Rodney Bryant Aloha Oregon
Pictured, Rodney Bryant Aloha, Oregon man. Police bookings via
Rodney Bryant Aloha Oregon
Pictured, Rodney Bryant Aloha, Oregon man. Image via police bookings (Washington County Sheriff’s Office).

Rodney Bryant Aloha, Oregon man faces bias crime after accosting black FedEx driver and going on a racist tirade while in unlawful possession of a weapon.

An Oregon man has been arrested for threatening a black FedEx driver with a pellet gun and yelling racial slurs at him over the weekend, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.

The FedEx driver, identified as Akiel Horn, 22, was delivering packages near Southwest Cascadia Court and Southwest 188th Avenue, Sunday afternoon, when a man came out of his house and stood in the street, blocking the FedEx truck, a press release said.

Rodney Bryant, 68 of Aloha, Or, stood in the street and shouted racial slurs toward the FedEx driver, who was described as being a black man.

The FedEx driver was able to drive away but Bryant got in his car and pulled alongside the truck with his car door open, officials said. The FedEx driver could see Bryant had a gun. Bryant continued with the racial slurs and said he was ‘not afraid to use it,’ referring to the gun.

The FedEx driver was able to get away and call 911. Deputies arrested Bryant and recovered a pellet gun, which had no orange tip and was ‘indistinguishable from a real gun,’ deputies said.

‘I’m still in shock,’ the victim told Fox12.

Rodney Bryant Aloha Oregon
Pictured, FedEx driver Akiel Horn. (Screenshot via Fox12/KPTV).

‘He’s a loving, racist bully…’ 

Speaking to KPTV, Bryant’s wife, Joyce Harmon, insisted her husband is not racist.

‘He was concerned about the driver speeding, so he wanted to ask him to slow down and so he found him and did that, but the driver yelled at him and he yelled back,’ she told the outlet.

‘He’s a very loving person,’ Harmon added. ‘He’s not a bully, he’s not mean, he’s very kind-hearted.’

Horn has since challenged such claims, saying, ‘It shouldn’t be a reason where you’re calling me the N-word and or saying you’re not afraid to use your gun – there’s no explanation for that.’

Bryant was charged with bias crime in the first degree, unlawful use of a weapon and menacing. Bryant is being held on $10,000 bail.

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