PORTLAND, Ore. — An Aloha man wrongly accused of shouting racial slurs at a FedEx driver is working to clear his name.
Back in December 2020, Rodney Bryant was arrested and charged with a first-degree bias crime, unlawful use of a weapon and menacing. This all started when he stopped a FedEx driver he said was speeding past his block.
The two got into a back-and-forth verbal exchange before the driver called the police saying he was threatened and racially harassed.
But that never happened — and dashcam video from his truck proves it.
"There were a half-dozen officers behind their vehicles with their weapons leveled at me," said Bryant, detailing the day he was arrested. "I was scared to death.”
Akiel Horn, the FedEx driver, had called 911 on him. Horn told police Bryant was threatening him with a pellet gun and shouting racial slurs.
“I was hauled off as someone who threatened to kill somebody,” said Bryant.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office put out a news release about the arrest, and news outlets picked up the story — but none reported that the charges were dropped a few months later as Horn moved to California.
But Bryant couldn’t let go of what he knew as truth and sued Horn for defamation.
The retrieved dashcam video shows Bryant did curse at Horn while encouraging him to slow down but never yelled racial slurs. The video also shows Horn was actually the one who made threats.
“If you keep following me, you are going to get shot,” said Horn in the dashcam video.
Bryant sued Horn and FedEx for defamation of character, and they were able to reach a six-figure settlement.
In a statement, Horn admitted his trauma could have possibly affected his recollection of details.
Horn also said he has since “reviewed the dashcam video of the incident and acknowledges that the video does not contain evidence of threats, racial slurs or the presence of a gun. “
Three years later, Bryant said he’s still dealing with the pain of having his name and face dragged through the mud.
"Seeing a death threat against myself online kind of sealed my determination to set the record straight," said Bryant, "to speak my truth again and say this event was completely fabricated."
Horn also apologized to Bryant in the statement, saying through this litigation, he learned more about him and does not believe that he's racist.