Orange County woman says video shows racial slurs, death threat in road‑rage

An Orange County woman says video obtained by News12 shows she was targeted with racial slurs and threatened during a road rage confrontation in the Town of Montgomery late last month, and local authorities are investigating. News12 posted an Instagram snippet that mirrored its on-air report and said, “News12 obtained exclusive video of the incident.”

News12’s report identifies the victim only as “an Orange County woman” and provides no suspect description, vehicle details, or exact calendar date beyond “late last month.” The station said local authorities are probing the racially charged altercation, but the clip and the report do not name which agency has the open investigation.

A separate, better-documented episode with similar language occurred in Montgomery County, Maryland, in mid-February 2019. Crispin Cole, a Gaithersburg man, told FOX 5 DC he was driving on Frederick Road in Germantown on Wednesday afternoon when the confrontation began. Cole said he stopped prior to a red light to let traffic turn onto the road; “This fellow behind me got upset, but it was a red light,” Cole said. “And he just wanted me to move forward and block the intersection, but I didn't do it. So I saw in my rear view mirror he was flicking me off and I kept seeing him mouth the N‑word.”

Cole followed the motorist to record what he said was a racist encounter. In the recording he turned over to Montgomery County Police, the other driver opens the door, uses the n‑word and issues a death threat; the clip captures the man saying, “I'll (expletive) kill you.” TheGrio and FOX 5 DC describe the man in the video as wearing a navy hoodie and a light green safety vest and driving a Ford truck. FOX 5 DC reported, “The driver's license plate is in the recording, so investigators are confident they'll track him down,” and Cole said he took the video to Montgomery County Police.

Montgomery County authorities publicly acknowledged the Germantown incident on social media. “The Montgomery County Police are aware of the incident and detectives are actively investigating,” the department tweeted on Feb. 16, 2019. A department spokesman told FOX 5 DC that “an investigation is underway, though it's unclear if any crime was committed,” and that police “want to look at the entire incident since only part of it was recorded.” TheGrio noted people on Twitter accused police of ignoring the case before the department’s tweet.

A separate legal outcome in the region shows how road-rage threats have been prosecuted elsewhere. In July 2019 in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, Vincent Cirillo III was sentenced to 11 to 23 months in prison and 3 years of probation after pleading guilty to an ethnic intimidation charge tied to a July 15, 2019 incident in which he reportedly yelled “it’s a white man’s world,” used racial slurs and brandished a chainsaw, according to court reporting summarized by Patch.

The recurrence of recorded slurs and threats, from the News12 clip in the Town of Montgomery to Cole’s Germantown footage and the Cirillo prosecution, underscores community safety and public-health concerns about fear, trauma and trust in law enforcement. “People don't believe you when you say something like this happens,” Cole said. “And this one, I got tired of it.” Police in Montgomery County have said detectives are actively investigating the Germantown video and want to see any additional footage; if you have information or video related to the Town of Montgomery report or the Germantown incident, contact the local police department handling the case.