U.S.
FedEx Launches Investigation Into the Firing of Two Drivers After Viral Confrontation With Customer
Published
2 years agoon
By
Cory Ray
- Two black FedEx drivers claim they were racially profiled by a customer in Georgia on Tuesday.
- Those drivers claim they were dropping off a package at a house when the owner of that house ran out, yelling he would “whoop” their “black asses.”
- In a now viral video, one of the drivers can be seen yelling at the customer following that incident.
- After one of the workers posted the video to social media, he said he and his coworker were then fired by FexEx.
- FedEx responded, saying the workers were employed by an independent provider but promised to hire them while it conducts an investigation.
FedEx Employee Shares Video
FedEx has responded to reports that it fired two black drivers in Georgia on Wednesday after one posted video of a heated exchange they had with a customer who they say racially profiled them.
The incident happened Tuesday when the two workers, identified as Antonio Braswell and Felinzay (last name unverified), were delivering packages in the small town of Leesburg.
According to Braswell, the confrontation began when they approached a house to deliver a package. In a tweet, Braswell said a white male ran out of the house, threatening and cursing at them.
“He kept escalating the situation then kept saying he would whoop [our] black asses,” Braswell added.
Braswell went on to say that the man told his wife to call the police. That man then allegedly followed the two workers and pulled out his phone to record them. Though Braswell said, at first, he and Felinzay drove away, Felinzay stopped the truck when the man allegedly yelled, “fuck y’all.”
That’s when we told his wife to get the police on us.. that’s when he kept following us then he pulled out his phone to record us and start playing the victim role we drove off at first but they yelled “fuck y’all”
— antonio braswell (@Toniob38) May 20, 2020
Felinzay then got out of the truck and Braswell began recording the now-viral incident, which has attracted more than 6 million views on Twitter alone.
“But you didn’t have to come out there cussing me like that, like I’m some child,” Felinzay says in the video. “I ain’t no little boy. I ain’t no little boy. I’ll wait till the police come.”
“Where you going?” the man asks several second later as Felinzay steps back into the truck.
“Man, I ain’t fixing to waste my time with you,” Felinzay responds. “You got my information. You got my information. They’ll find me. They’ll find me. You need to get your glasses back on.”
“I thought you were waiting for cops?” the man asks.
“Yeah I thought you were going to whoop my ass, too?” Felinzay says as he drives away from the man.
Update FedEx called and told me to take down this video and fired both of us Today .. I’m reposting this video because people like him doesn’t matter white or any race should never disrespect essential workers putting their lives in jeopardy especially with this covid-19 pic.twitter.com/Fw0S5gNRso
— antonio braswell (@Toniob38) May 20, 2020
Notably, the video does not show the customer actually yelling at or definitively racially profiling the two workers. It also does not show what happened following the incident, but according to Braswell, police arrived soon afterward. Both sides then gave their testimonies.
Also according to Braswell, the man who allegedly confronted them told police that the two employees “look like they would’ve broke into my house while my wife was there.” To note, that statement has not been confirmed by the Leesburg Police Department.
With such accusations, Braswell noted that this is certainly not the first time he’s experienced racial profiling.
“Mind y’all, we go through this all the time,” he tweeted. “He was the first to actually come at us crazy and all we doing is our job. We work 6 days out the week to deliver these packages during this coronavirus going on.”
Mind y’all we go through this all the time he was the first to actually come at us crazy and all we doing is our job we Work 6 days out the week to deliver these packages during this coronavirus going on
— antonio braswell (@Toniob38) May 20, 2020
To be clear, this is Braswell’s version of the events that happened. Neither Felinzay nor the unidentified customer have publicly given their side of the story.
FedEx Denies Firing Workers
After the incident, Braswell posted the incident online, where support for him and Felinzay skyrocketed, especially after he announced on Wednesday that FedEx had fired them both.
“Update,” he said, “FedEx called and told me to take down this video and fired both of us Today .. I’m reposting this video because people like him doesn’t matter white or any race should never disrespect essential workers putting their lives in jeopardy especially with this covid-19.”
Following that, #boycottFedEx began to trend on Twitter, with many people calling for both men to be reinstated.
This is a disgrace.#BoycottFedEx until they make this right. https://t.co/DvCfipXynX
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) May 20, 2020
Until FedEx issues an apology to the two African American drivers it fired and offers them their jobs back, my company Cool Quit will not be using FedEx to deliver our medications and medical devices to our patients and will instead use USPS and other mail carriers. #BoycottFedEx
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) May 21, 2020
Other noted how they believed the video and testimony from Braswell seemed to bare marked similarity to Ahmaud Arbery’s murder case.
1. Two black delivery men drop off a package
— Gord Macey (@GordMacey) May 20, 2020
2. Crazy white racist comes out saying he’s gonna whip their asses
3. The men record video of the incident and post it
4. FedEx fires both men for posting video
5. This could have been another Ahmaud Arbery#BoycottFedEx
So @FedEx fired 2 black employees in GA due to a racist white man acting crazy. People don’t understand wit the tension going on this could have been another Ahmaud Arbery incident. @BestBuy @Walmart @Target are y’all gonna stand for this? #BoycottFedEx 😤pic.twitter.com/JF3R6q29g7
— Wholesome ♏️ (@YizzoNp) May 21, 2020
On Wednesday, a GoFundMe page was also created for the two workers. It has currently raised more than $64,000, which will reportedly be split between the two men once the fund caps out at $75,000.
FedEx later clarified the situation regarding Braswell and Felinzay’s firing late Wednesday night, saying on Twitter that the two men were not actually FedEx employees.
“We are aware of the incident in [Georgia] that led to the release of two drivers employed by a service provider,” the company said. “We’re offering employment while investigating to ensure an appropriate outcome. We take seriously allegations of discrimination, retaliation, or improper employment actions.”
We are aware of the incident in GA that led to the release of two drivers employed by a service provider. We're offering employment while investigating to ensure an appropriate outcome. We take seriously allegations of discrimination, retaliation, or improper employment actions.
— FedEx (@FedEx) May 21, 2020
So far, Braswell has not publicly responded to that offer nor has he answered media requests for an interview.
See what others are saying: (CNBC) (Newsweek) (Atlanta-Journal Constitution)
U.S.
Uvalde Puts Police Chief on Leave, Tries to Kick Him Off City Council
Published
4 days agoon
June 23, 2022By
Chris Tolve
If Pete Arredondo fails to attend two more consecutive city council meetings, then he may be voted out of office.
Police Chief Faces Public Fury
Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was placed on administrative leave Wednesday following revelations that he and his officers did not engage the shooter at Robb Elementary for over an hour despite having adequate weaponry and protection.
Superintendent Hal Harrell, who made the announcement, did not specify whether the leave is paid or unpaid.
Harrell said in a statement that the school district would have waited for an investigation to conclude before making any personnel decisions, but chose to order the administrative leave because it is uncertain how long the investigation will take.
Lieutenant Mike Hernandez, the second in command at the police department, will assume Arredondo’s duties.
In an interview with The Texas Tribune earlier this month, Arredondo said he did not consider himself in charge during the shooting, but law enforcement records reviewed by the outlet indicate that he gave orders at the scene.
Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told state senators on Tuesday that some officers wanted to enter the classrooms harboring the shooter but were stopped by their superiors.
He said officer Ruben Ruiz tried to move forward into the hallway after receiving a call from his wife Eva Mireles, a teacher inside one of the classrooms, telling him she had been shot and was bleeding to death.
Ruiz was detained, had his gun taken away, and was escorted off the scene, according to McCraw. Mireles later died of her wounds.
Calls for Arredondo to resign or be fired have persisted.
Emotions Erupt at City Council
Wednesday’s announcement came one day after the Uvalde City Council held a special meeting in which community members and relatives of victims voiced their anger and demanded accountability.
“Who are you protecting?” Asked Jasmine Cazares, sister of Jackie Cazares, a nine-year-old student who was shot. “Not my sister. The parents? No. You’re too busy putting them in handcuffs.”
Much of the anger was directed toward Arredondo, who was not present at the meeting but was elected to the city council on May 7, just over two weeks before the massacre.
“We are having to beg ya’ll to do something to get this man out of our faces,” said the grandmother of Amerie Jo Garza, a 10-year-old victim. “We can’t see that gunman. That gunman got off easy. We can’t take our frustrations out on that gunman. He’s dead. He’s gone. … Ya’ll need to put yourselves in our shoes, and don’t say that none of ya’ll have, because I guarantee you if any of ya’ll were in our shoes, ya’ll would have been pulling every string that ya’ll have to get this man off the council.”
One woman demanded the council refuse to grant Arredondo the leave of absence he had requested, pointing out that if he fails to attend three consecutive meetings the council can vote him out for abandoning his office.
“What you can do right now is not give him, if he requests it, a leave of absence,” she said. “Don’t give him an out. We don’t want him. We want him out.”
After hearing from the residents, the council voted unanimously not to approve the leave of absence.
On Tuesday, Uvalde’s mayor announced that Robb Elementary is set to be demolished, saying no students or teachers should have to return to it after what happened.
We make it a point to not include the names and pictures of those who may have been seeking attention or infamy and will not link out to websites that might contain such information.
U.S.
Texas Public Safety Director Says Police Response to Uvalde Shooting Was An “Abject Failure”
Published
6 days agoon
June 21, 2022By
Chris Tolve
New footage shows officers prepared to engage the shooter one hour before they entered the classroom.
Seventy-Seven Deadly Minutes
Nearly a month after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 children and two teachers, evidence has emerged indicating that police were prepared to engage the shooter within minutes of arriving, but chose to wait over an hour.
The shooting at Robb Elementary began at 11:33 a.m., and within three minutes 11 officers are believed to have entered the school, according to surveillance and body camera footage obtained by KVUE and the Austin American Statesman.
District Police Chief Pete Arredondo reportedly called a landline at the police department at 11:40 a.m. for help.
“It’s an emergency right now,” he said. “We have him in the room. He’s got an AR-15. He’s shot a lot… They need to be outside the building prepared because we don’t have firepower right now. It’s all pistols.”
At 11:52 a.m., however, the footage shows multiple officers inside the school armed with at least two rifles and one ballistic shield.
Law enforcement did not enter the adjoined classrooms to engage the shooter until almost an hour later, at 12:50 p.m. During that time, one officer’s daughter was inside the classrooms and another’s wife, a teacher, reportedly called him to say she was bleeding to death.
Thirty minutes before law enforcement entered the classrooms, the footage shows officers had four ballistic shields in the hallway.
Frustrated Cops Want to Go Inside
Some of the officers felt agitated because they were not allowed to enter the classrooms.
One special agent at the Texas Department of Public Safety arrived about 20 minutes after the shooting started, then immediately asked, “Are there still kids in the classrooms?”
“It is unknown at this time,” another officer replied.
“Ya’ll don’t know if there’s kids in there?” The agent shot back. “If there’s kids in there we need to go in there.”
“Whoever is in charge will determine that,” the other officer responded.
According to an earlier account by Arredondo, he and the other officers tried to open the doors to the classrooms, but found them both locked and waited for a master key to arrive. But surveillance footage suggests that they never tried to open the doors, which a top Texas official has confirmed were never actually locked.
One officer has told reporters that within minutes of the police response, there was a Halligan bar, which firefighters use to break down locked doors, on-site, but it was never used.
At a special State Senate committee hearing Monday, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw called the police response an “abject failure” and “antithetical to everything we’ve learned over the last two decades since the Columbine massacre.”
“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from (entering rooms) 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” he said. “The officers have weapons, the children had none.”
We make it a point to not include the names and pictures of those who may have been seeking attention or infamy and will not link out to websites that might contain such information.
U.S.
Ohio Governor Signs Bill Allowing Teachers to Carry Guns With 24 Hours of Training
Published
2 weeks agoon
June 14, 2022By
Chris Tolve
“They will have blood on their hands,” Ohio State Senator Theresa Fedor said.
Teachers to Bear Arms
Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill into law Monday allowing teachers and other school staff to carry firearms on campus with a fraction of the training previously required.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled last year that school employees need to complete 700 hours of training as a peace officer, as well as the permission from their school board before arming themselves, but Monday’s law changes that.
Starting in the fall, school staff will only have to complete up to 24 hours of initial training plus eight hours of requalification training each year.
DeWine directed the Ohio School Safety Center, which must approve any training programs, to order the maximum 24 hours and eight hours.
Four of those hours consist of scenario-based training and 20 more go toward first-aid training and history of school shootings and reunification education.
Individual school districts can still decide not to allow their staff to carry firearms. Last week, Cleveland’s mayor said the city will refuse to arm teachers, and Columbus has signaled it will not change its policy either.
Another Ohio law went into effect Monday allowing adults over the age of 21 to carry a concealed firearm without a permit, training, or background checks. It also ended the requirement for gun carriers to inform police officers if they have a concealed weapon on them unless specifically asked.
Communities shocked by Legislation
Coming just weeks after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 students and two teachers, Monday’s law was not welcome by many Ohioans.
“I think it’s a horrible idea to arm our teachers,” Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant told The Columbus Dispatch. “There’s a lot of training that’s involved in that. It’s naïve to believe that is something we can put on them and expect them to respond to from a law enforcement perspective.”
More police, teachers, and gun control advocates expressed opposition to the legislation, with Democratic State Senator Theresa Fedor telling ABC the bill’s supporters “will have blood on their hands.”
“I’m a veteran classroom teacher of 18 years, been a legislator 22 years,” she said. “I have never seen a bill so poorly written, hurdled through the process. There’s so many flaws in the bill. There’s no minimum education standard, no psychological evaluation, no safe storage.”
A teacher identified as “Coach D” also spoke out against the law on YouTube.
“It took me 12 years of grade school, four years of undergrad, and two years of graduate school, not to mention continued education and professional development for years to be able to teach in my classroom,” he said. “I’ve now been doing that for over 20 years. But now, with only 24 hours of training in Ohio, I could be authorized to bring a lethal weapon into the classroom and expected to take on an active shooter, and then what? Go back to teaching word problems?”
At a Monday press conference, reporter Josh Rultenberg confronted DeWine with challenging questions, posting several videos of the exchange in a Twitter thread.
When asked if he would take accountability if this law allowed for a teacher to shoot the wrong kid, Dewine said that “in life we make choices, and we don’t always know what the outcome is going to be.”
“What this legislature has done, I’ve done by signing it, is giving schools an option based on their particular circumstances to make the best decision they can make with the best information they have,” he continued.
🧵I asked @GovMikeDeWine, if heaven forbid a teacher shoots the wrong kid, if he will take any accountability knowing he could have stopped it by not signing House Bill 99. Here's his response. @SpectrumNews1OH pic.twitter.com/Ixmc3k4tCZ
— Josh Rultenberg (@JoshRultNews) June 13, 2022
I asked @GovMikeDeWine about the argument of giving good guys guns to stop bad guys with guns. I point out the 77 minutes it took law enforcement in Uvalde to act. He gets combative and then gives this response. @SpectrumNews1OH pic.twitter.com/nF6RHrlqJ1
— Josh Rultenberg (@JoshRultNews) June 13, 2022
I asked @GovMikeDeWine, after @RepThomasHall said HB 99 is "Ohio doing something," if he thinks this is what the people in Dayton meant when they asked him to "do something." Here's his response. @SpectrumNews1OH pic.twitter.com/fYzSjAi5vf
— Josh Rultenberg (@JoshRultNews) June 13, 2022
See what others are saying: (The Guardian) (The Columbus Dispatch) (ABC)

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