Taxi driver kicks out passenger for making racist comments

A driver for the Lyft taxi service refused to give a ride to a woman and her companion after they both made racist comments. 

The couple in question, originally from Pennsylvania, was reportedly shocked to see a “white man” driving a taxi when they normally see black or Hispanic people.

Through Facebook, the driver shared a video taken by the dashcam, located next to the steering wheel of the vehicle, in which he shows himself welcoming passengers with kindness until the woman tells him in surprise: “Wow, you’re a white man.”

Later the driver, identified as James Bode, asks: “What do you mean? Forgiveness?”.

“Are you a normal guy, like you speak English?” the woman mockingly replies as she pats James on the shoulder and adds, “I’m sorry.”

In the video, James Bode is not seen being offended because they called him a white man, but his annoyance, he said, was that they made such comments in a racist tone referring to African -American or Hispanic people or any other with foreign origins who do not speak English or do not be white. 

Later in the discussion, James asks the woman to leave the vehicle and refuses to take the trip he was called for. “No, you can get out of the car, please,” the driver says.

“It’s inappropriate,” the host said, adding: “That’s completely inappropriate. If someone was not white and was sitting in this seat, what would be the difference?

When he asks the woman to get out of the car, her passenger addresses James as “a f*cking b*tch” and threatens him that he was going to hit him. After the woman gets out of the car, the passenger begins to repeat various racial slurs.

Bode looks out the window at them and tells him that he will call the police because of the threats the passenger was making at him and that he has proof of the racist incident as it was all documented on video. “You guys are racist f*cks,” he tells the couple.

In the post‘s caption, James described the incident as happening at Fossils Last Stand on Race St in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania while catering a ride for Jackie and her date.

Within an update of the facts, the driver said that he filed a police report only for the threat of aggression, although he evidenced the couple’s racist acts on Facebook with the video, which went viral in a matter of minutes.

A commenter on the social network praised his anti-racist attitude and the way he defended non-white people.

“Thank you for showing how to be anti-racist calmly and bravely. I respect and admire you.”

Shortly after the video was revealed, a local media outlet identified the woman as Jackie Harford, owner of the bar where the incident took place. She deleted all her social networks and closed the bar accounts to prevent them from coming into contact with her and continuing to expose her because apparently, was not the only racist act that she has carried out.