Police investigating racist rant, gestures caught on video as hate crime

TORRANCE, Calif. — A California couple were driving home Wednesday night when they were accosted by another driver and subjected to racist rants, gestures of hate and vandalism.

Itzel Lopez, who is of Mexican descent, was driving home from her birthday dinner with her boyfriend, who is Black, when two people in a pickup truck cut them off, stopped in front of them at a red light and got out, KTLA reported.

“We were just coming back from having my birthday dinner,” Lopez said. “We were just in shock. We didn’t know what was going on. Why were they doing it? They don’t know us. They were being really mean and racist.”

Lopez started taking video of the incident, which has been widely viewed on social media.

Both the driver and passenger, both apparently white, get out of the truck. The driver stands and stares into Lopez's vehicle while giving a Nazi salute. He then grabs a long metal object from the back of the truck then hits Lopez's vehicle repeatedly. The woman yells at the couple: "White lives matter (expletive)... Only white lives matter," before getting back in the truck.

“It really threw me off. Never in my life did I think I was gonna experience this,” Lopez said. “It’s actually really scary. They don’t even know you and they’re willing to hurt you. It’s sad.”

Torrance police are investigating the incident as a hate crime, KTLA reported.

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