Two white men were arrested this week for allegedly attacking a Black teen who was driving through their neighborhood.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the incident took place in Sanford, Florida, the same city where Trayvon Martin was gunned down by George Zimmerman more than a decade ago. The teen, identified as 16-year-old Jermaine Jones, was reportedly driving through a residential area when the men threw a traffic cone at his car and a large rock through the vehicle’s window.
Jermaine’s father, CJ Jones, shared footage of the confrontation via Facebook on Tuesday. In the video, which was shot by Jermaine, the men can be heard shouting at the teen, demanding him to “get out” of their neighborhood.
“Right here! Tell me what you’ve done!” a man says as Jermaine shows the damage done to his Mercedes sedan. “Burning out and racing through my fucking neighborhood!”
“After I told you not to!” the second man interjects, prompting Jermaine to tell the man to get out of his face. “I’m not in your face. Get out of my neighborhood, you fuckwad!”
Moments later, Jermaine can be heard asking which one of the residents has a gun.
“The guy who has a permit to carry,” one of the men responds.
A female bystander is seen filming the altercation with her cellphone. She tells Jermaine, “You’re the one who would get a gun! Get out of this neighborhood … You don’t belong here!”
The teen reshared the footage on his Instagram, claiming the attack was racially motivated.
“I was racially profiled while driving through my friends neighborhood,” he said. “They didn’t like the way I was driving, so they felt the need to hit my car with a cone, and throw a rock through my window. All I wanted to do was de-escalate until police came, because I wasn’t about to get charges pressed on me for no reason.”
Jermaine and his friend, 15-year-old Bailey Kennedy, were reportedly inside the vehicle when the men allegedly threw the objects. Florida police later identified the men as 52-year-old Donald Corsi and 61-year-old Howard Hughes. They were both arrested by Seminole County officers Wednesday and charged with damage to property. Corsi was also hit with a weapon offense charge for allegedly throwing the rock, while Hughes is facing an additional misdemeanor battery charge for allegedly hitting the white teen with a traffic cone.
