A Middletown, Connecticut, couple was charged after going on a racist tirade against landscapers in a video that has since gone viral on social media.
Authorities said 62-year-old Robert Shaw and 58-year-old Sharon Bourgeois-Williams, of Frisbie Street, were each charged with disorderly conduct. They were charged with disorderly conduct because their "hostile behavior prevented one employee from moving freely in the roadway," police said. "
Shaw, Bourgeois-Williams Confronted the Landscapers for Making Too Much Noise, Then Went on a Racist Rant
Jose Martin, the owner of J. Martin Landscaping who filmed the video, said he thought Bourgeois-Williams was going to ask them for work or "do something in her yard," when he saw her approaching them.
"As soon as I saw her cussing us out, I grabbed my phone right away. I said 'Okay, this is going to be a problem,'" Martin told Channel 3 News. He said he and his brother were cutting trees and cleaning up a customer's lawn when the unidentified couple confronted them for making too much noise.
"J. Martin Landscaping likes to video people that complain that they have made noise all f****** day," Bourgeois-Williams could be heard saying in the video. "You keep wanting to make noise in the neighborhood? We don't do that s*** here," Shaw said later in the video.
'This is Why We Need a Border Wall Right Here'
The couple could be heard yelling insults and slurs at the men.
"This is why we need a border wall right here," Shaw said.
Bourgeois-Williams asked several times if one of the workers was "here legally."
"Do you have a visa? Do you have a visa? You don't even have a visa to be here, do you?" Bourgeois-Williams said.
Martin and his brother are both from Puerto Rico.
He said he stayed quiet the whole time, which he said is the best thing to do in those situations, as he recorded what the two neighbors had to say.
"I always stay quiet because it was not worth it to go back and forth with them," Martin said.
Mayor Ben Florsheim Says He was 'Horrified' with the Video
Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim addressed the video in a letter posted to Facebook on Wednesday. "Like many of you, I was horrified to see the video making the rounds on Facebook of José Martín and his staff being barraged with insults and racist remarks by two people who live in Middletown," Florsheim said.
Florsheim added that his staff reached out to Martin and offered apologies for how he was treated.
In an update Thursday night, Middletown police said the couple was charged. Shaw and Bourgeois-Williams turned themselves in Thursday evening. They were released on a $10,000 bond. They are set to appear in Middletown court on October 26.
"Let me be clear, we don't tolerate this type of behavior in Middletown, and it doesn't represent who we work to be as a community," Florsheim said.
