A video of a cyclist verbally and racially abusing an Asian man who honked at him because he was swerving in the middle of the road is being widely circulated on social media.
The original video was shared by Zane Tang on Facebook on Tuesday along with a lengthy caption detailing the incident, which took place in Brooklyn, New York City last week.
Tang says he was driving along 7th Ave, between 58th-59th St when he noticed that a cyclist in front of him was swerving in the middle of the road "like the entire street was his domain." Tang gave him a light honk to let him know he was behind him and the cyclist responded by flipping him off.
According to Tang, the cyclist then looked at his vehicle and brake checked him, hitting his vehicle and prompting Tang to get out of his vehicle to check if the man was all right, to tell him to use the bike lane, and to ask him why he was swerving in and out of a two-way street.
'You Guys Are the Weakest Race on the Planet'
The man then launched a profanity-laced racist tirade against Tang and his non-English speaking uncle, hurling derogatory slurs at them. "You yellow b*tches shouldn't be here, this is my country, I was born here," the man told them, before referring to them as "inbreds" and "f*ggots," while telling them "you guys are the weakest race on the planet," according to Tang.
"I've never had to try this hard to refrain myself from getting physical..not only because I am a PROUD Asian but also because I have black brothers myself and I am PROUD of them," Tang wrote in his post.
Tang tried to walk away from the confrontation three times but stopped when the man proceeded to punch his car. At that point, Tang pulled out his phone and started filming the cyclist.
Fakes Injury to Cops, Says He's 'Dying'
In the video shared by Tang, the man can be heard on a 911 call claiming that Tang tried to run him over and that he was injured. "There's a "guy dying on the floor," he can be heard saying. The cyclist can then be seen trying to assault Tang as he moves in closer to record the man.
"You know why you guys are all f*cking slant eye because you're immigrants," the man says as he continues to racially abuse Tang and his uncle. "Because you guys normalize f*cking your sisters."
The man also makes racist remarks about Black people, referring to them as "r*tards" and almost uses the N-word before stopping himself. He then brags about how his bike is worth more than Tang's car and threatens to "slap the f*ck out of him."
As soon as the police and paramedics arrived at the scene, the cyclist stopped claiming he was injured but wanted Tang arrested. The police filed a report stating that there was no damage to the man's bicycle.
History of Racist Behavior Towards Asians
According to Tang, the cyclist, later identified as Harry Tzianakis, has a history of harassing the Asian community in Brooklyn, according to the Asian residents of 7th and 8th Ave, who Tzianakis can be heard abusing in the video after they came out to see what the commotion was about.
"Unfortunately, any of his previous victims have been older Asian immigrants, unable to understand his racist language or DEFEND themselves due to the language barrier," Tang noted. He is now encouraging social media users to share his post so that Asian Americans, specifically older Asian Americans, can learn how to protect themselves in situations like his own.
Watch the full video below:
