Jeffrey Rouse, 40, was arrested Friday after a viral video allegedly showed him hurling racial slurs at a woman in Naples, Florida
A Florida man has been arrested after he was filmed hurling racial slurs at a woman while they were both waiting at a stoplight.
Jeffrey Rouse, 40, was taken into custody on Friday after leading police on a 100mph car chase through Collier County.
It came after a woman named Mishou posted a video of a man identified as Rouse screaming at her when they were both stopped at a red light on Thursday evening in Naples.
In the video Rouse was heard shouting: ‘How much do you think your life matters right now? None!
He then holds up a can of mace and says: ‘I’m going to put this mace in your black n***** face. F*** you n*****. That’s how much your life matters.’
A woman named Mishou posted a video of a man identified as Rouse screaming at her when they were both stopped at a red light on Thursday evening in Naples
In the video the man is heard shouting: ‘How much do you think your life matters right now? None!’ He then holds up a can of mace and says: ‘I’m going to put this mace in your black n***** face. F*** you n*****. That’s how much your life matters’
Mishou shared the video on Twitter, writing: ‘I literally just got off the highway into Naples and this is the first thing that happens to me. Like this man could’ve killed me at a whole red light. FIND THIS MAN!!’
After it went viral she told FOX4: ‘I just want to bring awareness to the world that even when you’re minding your own business as a black individual, we still get looked at and talked down upon! Even in Naples, Florida, this happens! I’m thankful to be alive.’
The story took a turn after Naples resident Yaritza Gary said she recognized the man in Mishou’s video as the same one who she saw verbally attacking a black man earlier this month.
‘The guy was yelling the N-word, and saying like, to say something, try to do something, watch what will happen to you,’ Gary told FOX4.
She said the man attacked her brother, Eddie, after he tried to intervene.
‘Once my brother went next to him and asked the guy to stop, he started yelling N-words at my brother also, but it was mostly towards the elderly black man,’ Gary said.
Eddie told FOX4: ‘First thought came to mind was I have a family that depends on me and I have too much to lose because being a black man no words can describe the pain you feel when you experience such hate.’
Mishou (pictured) shared the video on Twitter, writing: ‘I literally just got off the highway into Naples and this is the first thing that happens to me. Like this man could’ve killed me at a whole red light. FIND THIS MAN!!’
Yaritza Gary (pictured) said she recognized the man in Mishou’s video as the same one who she saw verbally attacking a black man earlier this month
Another woman, Dominique Peterson, said she had encountered Rouse before as well.
Peterson, an ICU nurse, said she and her colleague were once verbally assaulted by Rouse.
‘When I saw [Mishou’s] video, I was just like holy cow,’ Peterson told Wink News.
‘I got goosebumps before I could even click play, I knew it was the guy.’
Peterson praised Mishou for managing to capture the video even as she was attacked.
‘For her to stay calm and get that video footage, which was so essential in catching that guy … good job, girl,’ she said. ‘That was awesome. You really helped catch that guy.’
Prior to Rouse’s arrest, many Naples locals claimed on Twitter that the man in the video was a delivery driver for GrubHub.
The company later said it was working with law enforcement to determine whether that was true.
‘We are in the process of investigating this incident based on the speculation and will take necessary actions as appropriate including terminating his contract,’ a GrubHub spokesperson told FOX4.
Naples police said Rouse was apprehended on Friday after leading deputies on a car chase.
They said he was arrested after barricading himself inside his home.
Rouse is also suspected of defacing political signs outside a Seed To Table grocery store on August 8, investigators said.
Authorities did not disclose the specific charges against Rouse but said they will seek to have him charged with hate crimes.