Even today, in 2025, racism on American roads still rears its ugly head, sometimes with slurs, sometimes with violence, and too often, with both. That brutal truth became unavoidable again last Tuesday in Irvine, California, when a shocking road rage incident turned into a viral hate crime case.
It started like far too many road encounters do, with one angry driver and a sense of entitlement. But this time, it didn’t end in silence. And thanks to a viral video, it didn’t end in impunity either.
The man behind the wheel was 54-year-old Robert Leon Tackett. In a now-widely shared TikTok video posted by the victim’s family, Tackett is seen speeding alongside a truck driver, hurling a racist anti-Latino slur, and throwing hot coffee directly into the victim’s vehicle, all while yelling, “Film me all you want to!”
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What he didn’t realize was that filming him would be exactly what led to his arrest.
According to the Irvine Police Department, after the initial clash, Tackett didn’t let it go. Instead, he followed the victim, driving aggressively, swerving into their lane, and nearly causing a collision multiple times.
“Tackett shouted racial slurs at the victim before throwing a cup of hot coffee into the victim’s vehicle. The liquid landed on the victim’s face, hands, and on the interior of his car,” police wrote in a statement.
The incident gained traction fast on social media, and police caught wind of it shortly after the video spread. Speaking to local outlet KNBC, the department’s public information officer described the man in no uncertain terms: “This man was very angry.”
By late Wednesday night, the victim had formally filed a report, and police, using the vehicle’s license plate, tracked Tackett down.
He was arrested the following day and charged with a hate crime and aggravated assault.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, not in California, not in the country. In another case just last September, a 62-year-old man in Oakland was found guilty of felony assault with a deadly weapon and a hate crime enhancement after a viral video showed him cutting off a car carrying a Black family and shouting the N-word at the driver. According to authorities, he then attempted to ram the victim’s vehicle before crashing into a wall.
And in Texas, a road rage incident escalated when a man rear-ended a Black woman’s car, followed her to a gas station, pointed a gun at her, and called her racial slurs. That man, too, was charged with aggravated assault.
Each of these cases speaks to the same painful reality: Racism is a threat. But thanks to cell phones, community vigilance, and public outrage, more and more of these moments are finally being seen, and justice is slowly catching up.
