Share This Article:
By Ken Stone
Who’s driving around East County with a Nazi flag on their rear window? And why?
Support Times of San Diego's growth
with a small monthly contribution
Interstate 8 motorists and an Alpine resident have posted pictures and video of a red-and-black SUV with the black swastika since Monday.
It was the second Nazi flag seen in East County since Dustin Hart and his wife wore small versions on their face masks in a May 7 visit to the Santee Food 4 Less. (Hart says he isn’t the driver with the flag.)
Terrorism out in the open. Subjecting us to fear in broad daylight. I couldn’t believe this was here in SoCal. I’m still in shock that I passed a car like this. #racism #blacklivesmatter #fearmongering #TrumpsAmerica #blm #nazi pic.twitter.com/kHhD36XN7d
— TheKloude (@TheKloude) June 29, 2020
Another San Diego Nazi. My coworker saw a guy waving a nazi flag on I-8 on Friday (6/26). And this picture was taken today. pic.twitter.com/S0QdTEgEKM
— Stephen Rochester (@SBRochester) June 30, 2020
The latest images were captured by Albert Aguilar of Alpine, who was shocked to see the flag just before 7:30 a.m. Thursday after a visit to a local Starbucks.
He also was shocked by the reaction he got to posting two images on the private Facebook group Loving Life Alpine.
Aguilar told Times of San Diego that some people were “blaming Antifa” and calling the picture — a rear view of the truck in the Albertsons parking lot — a “set-up.”
Others wondered if it really was the Albertsons parking lot.
So Aguilar went back to the scene and shot video showing the background of the original photos.
“I panned to my left and did a complete 360 just to show people that yes, this is happening here in Alpine,” he said in a phone interview.
Aguilar’s post on Loving Life Alpine was deleted, he said, as a violation of its anti-bullying rules.
“I wasn’t bullying anybody,” he said. “I was making a statement of what I saw. It was shocking. … I’m a Mexican. It really took the wind right out of my sails.”
He rejected a theory that someone placed the flag as a “payback.”
Aguilar observed that people have reported the flag being seen in La Mesa and El Cajon, with the same license plate number — 8BUC868. “So yeah, he’s doing this intentionally.”
A video shot Monday on an East County bend of Interstate 8 was accompanied by the note: “Terrorism out in the open. Subjecting us to fear in broad daylight. I couldn’t believe this was here in SoCal. I’m still in shock that I passed a car like this.”
A still image showed the vehicle and flag heading east on I-8 near the College Avenue ramp. The tweet said it was taken Tuesday.
“Another San Diego Nazi,” said the Twitter account. “My coworker saw a guy waving a nazi flag on I-8 on Friday (6/26).”
Aguilar said a lot of people have been spotting the anti-Semitic symbol. A neighbor said that a friend saw the flag last week on an Indian reservation.
But Aguilar apparently is the only person to get a good look at the driver.
Before he drove away, Aguilar and the driver — a bald, bearded man in his 20s — had a brief staredown.
“I was just looking at him,, and he was kind of mad-dogging me,” Aguilar said. “And he took the flag off and stood there looking at me. I was shaking my head, and then I just drove off.”
Aguilar was surprised that the man was dressed as if to attend a job interview: very nice pants, nice shoes and a belt. Tucked-in shirt.
“I found it odd,” he said.
Also strange was he didn’t appear Caucasian. “He had like a brownish tone to his skin,” he said.
Aguilar said he saw a social media post that reported someone seeing the driver “walking out of the Sheriff’s Department.” A sheriff’s spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
When Aguilar got home from Albertsons, he said he took a minute to compose himself.
He said he asked God to help the Nazi flag driver.
“Probably something happened in his life. … We’re not born like this,” he said. “It’s taught. Hopefully, he’ll change his ways.”
>> Subscribe to Times of San Diego’s free daily email newsletter! Click here
Follow Us:
"8" - Google News
July 03, 2020 at 12:19PM
https://ift.tt/3f8IdSR
Sight of Nazi Swastika Flag Stuns East County Motorists on I-8 - Times of San Diego
"8" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2z1PBPz
https://ift.tt/3c1rzCJ
No comments:
Post a Comment