Newburgh, NY – One Orange County The man has been charged with a hate crime over a road rage incident captured on video over the weekend.
On Tuesday, CBS2’s Kevin Rincon spoke to a local pastor who said he feared for both his life and that of his son.
Robert Macklemore was driving down a busy street Newberg On Saturday, when he was bitten by a person riding in a pickup truck.
“I look in my rearview mirror and I see him coming over the car,” Macklemore said.
The man was holding a box cutter that very much looked like a knife.
“He was walking toward my car, putting his hand on the window and saying, ‘I’ll hit you with a knife, and I’ll stab you, I’ll stab you,'” Macklemore said.
Macklemore said he was on his way back to his church to lock up his teenage son. Instead, he broke into the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant, and began recording something else.
“Nobody would believe this happened to me. No one. I didn’t believe it myself,” Macklemore said.
The man can be heard abusing racial slurs the entire time.
Police said they arrested 60-year-old William J. Ryan. He is now facing the charge of hate crime.
“His racist threats were not only harmful to the victim in this case, but are also deep within our city,” Police Chief Anthony Geraci said.
Mayor Torrence Harvey said the incident was not a reflection of the city, but a reflection of the polarized climate we are in.
“There are people in our country who will not let go of this social construction. We are all part of the human race,” Harvey said.
He said that what happened is a reminder that we have certainly come a long way, but there is more work to be done.
“It tells us it puts you back in the 1950s,” Harvey said.
As for Macklemore, he is also a lieutenant with the Wallkill Police Department. He said that he was planning to take his gun with him from here.
He gave the following message to the suspect:
“I would say to him, number one, because I am a spiritual person, I forgive you. But number two, you have to face the consequences of your actions and I hope you get the help you need,” Macklemore said.
The suspect claimed to be an off-duty state soldier in the video, but New York State Police said that was not the case, adding that he had no affiliation with any law enforcement agency.
“Racism has no place in our communities. This weekend, Pastor RD Macklemore, a local pastor and law enforcement officer, released footage of a man harassing and threatening a man. The footage is disturbing, as reports suggest the man harassing Pastor Macklemore repeatedly targeted other people of color in the area. We are working with local law enforcement to learn more about this and other incidents. We fight racism and much more can be done to combat and support Black and Brown communities in the Hudson Valley,” said Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, Mayor of Newburgh Torrence Harvey and regional director of the Mid-Hudson Westchester NAACP Wilbur Aldridge said in a joint statement.
