Woman records man’s racist rant toward her in traffic in Collier County, man now in custody

The suspect is now in custody and faces multiple charges from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. He has been identified as 40-year-old Jeffrey Adam Rouse. He also is accused of defacing the signs of two political candidates last week.

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A racist rant has a woman afraid for her life. As disturbing as it is, she wants people to see the video.

Collier County investigators want her to come forward so they can take action to make sure it never happens again.

Thursday, a woman in Collier County recorded an encounter she had with a belligerent man in public. She told us she wants to make sure the world will see the verbal attack she experienced.

The woman’s friend told us she is extremely shaken up by what happened to her at a red light.

“I definitely know it scared her, and, for me, it definitely scared me because I’m an African American,” said Peter Jean Marie, a neighbor and friend of the woman.

In the video, the man yells at the woman, “How much do you think your life matters right now? None.”

The man was recorded using racist slurs offensive to black people as well as other comments that incited violence, such as telling the woman he would pepper spray her.

It’s a racist rant that targeted the woman while she sat in her car at a red light. His words cut deep, shocking thousands on social media and leaving the victim afraid.

Jean Marie says the 37-second video his friend captured opened his eyes to what’s going on in his community.

“After watching that video and hearing that that happened to a neighbor, I came to the realization that racism is closer than you expect,” Marie said.

NCH Nurse Dominique Peterson says the same man verbally attacked her and her co-worker while they were walking through the parking lot at work. When she saw this video, she sent it to Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

“I know this guy,” Peterson said. “This was the same guy I filed a report about a week or two ago. Now, we have clear video footage. He’s doing it to someone else.”

The victim said she was not able to get the man’s license plate number before he drove off.

The sheriff’s office wants her to come forward and make a report, saying it’s ready to take action. The woman’s friend is going to pass that information along to her.

Jean Marie hopes people don’t only watch the video. He hopes everyone starts down the road toward making sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

“I just hope that we all could somehow unite and treat one another fairly and kindly and just not be so hurtful,” Jean Marie said.