Black DoorDash Driver Victim Of Racist Tirade And Threats From Ohio Man
A Black Stow, Ohio, delivery driver endured a frightening and threatening experience, as a white man shouted racist insults and made threats on her life and chased her while she was simply trying to do her job..
On Saturday (April 17), Kiauna Larkins, 22, was making a food delivery for DoorDash. With her two-year-old son along with her, she encountered a stopped car in the apartment complex where she was making her delivery, so she went around it.
“After I delivered the order, I came outside, and the man, he was still waiting outside,” Larkins told local Cleveland station WOIO. “He was just beeping and then when I tried to leave, he started following me.”
Caught on video by Larkins, James Rhodes, 53, is seen and heard using vulgar and racist slurs toward Larkins.
Editor's Note: Content below may be triggering for some.
“Get the f*** of out of here,” Rhodes yelled. “I pay $1,000 a month here. You make $1,000 in two months.” Rhodes would continue with his erratic behavior and language, using profane, racist and sexist expletives.
Neighbors quickly aided Larkins, addressing Rhodes directly.
“She’s driving erratically,” Rhodes informed the neighbor.
“Well look at you,” the neighbor responded. “I don’t give a f***, you don’t call her names.”
“F*** that n****,” Rhodes yelled back.
Rhodes claimed to have an AK47 in his car, threatening to use it against Larkins. She admitted to being scared and at this point and considered driving off, “because you never know what could happen and what people are capable of.”
The neighbor, continuing to talk to Rhodes, said, “you know what? You’re a racist.”
“Yes, I am,” Rhodes said back.
“Like he was basically proud to say that he was a racist, and he didn’t have any remorse for what he said,” said Larkins.
She says she has not worked a DoorDash shift since the incident because she’s afraid. She questions what “black people did to this man, this particular man to cause so much hatred.”
Larkins said makes her fearful for her son’s future.
“I just want to know what Black people did to this man, this particular man to cause so much hatred,” she said. “I’m scared what my son will have to go through when he does grow up, what he won’t be able to do.”
Stow police arrested Rhodes after the incident, charging him with aggravated menacing and felony ethnic intimidation. On Tuesday (April 27), Stow police charged Rhodes with a felony. He posted a personal bond of $10,000.
