A California landlord says an Amazon driver arrested for a brutal attack on an elderly woman reportedly lamented “White privilege” before letting fists fly.
Itzel Ramirez, 21, was arrested on June 3 and faces charges of two counts of elder abuse and battery involving serious injury.
Surveillance video of the Castro Valley attack shows the 67-year-old victim turning her back to the driver before receiving a flurry of blows to the face and back of the head.
“It was frightening to see an Amazon driver do that, somebody who we allow onto the property to provide us a service,” Doug Smith, the owner of the Vista Creek Apartments where the attack occurred, told a local Fox News TV affiliate.
Alameda County Sheriff’s Department said the victim, who is not ready to speak to the press, may have suffered a broken nose.
At issue before the attack was a notification that a package was delivered when, technically, it was not.
The confused woman was told to wait for the package but it was still not delivered after a 15-minute wait.
“I believe the Amazon driver said something about ’your White privilege,’ and my tenant said, ’You don’t need to be a bitch about it,’ turned around and walked away,” Mr. Smith told the TV station.
“We can’t have our delivery drivers or people out there in the community attacking people, punching people in the face,” added sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly.
A statement by Amazon made clear: “This [incident] does not reflect the high standards we have for drivers who deliver our packages. We take these matters seriously and this individual is no longer delivering Amazon packages.”
Ms. Ramirez is claiming self-defense and is being held on $100,000 bail.
The Amazon driver told the elderly woman to check her white privilege and she said no, so she beat her up. pic.twitter.com/BiKQ9ZjJ3X
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 7, 2021
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.