A 54-year-old Orange County man has been arrested in connection with a video that reportedly shows him spewing hateful and racist language at a business where several Hispanic adults can be seen.
In the footage, which has racked up nearly 15,000 views on at least one Instagram account, a man, who police say is Lake Forest resident Eric Walter Ramminger, is captured screaming graphic insults and obscenities at a woman who works at the business on May 30.
“In America, we do not like you, okay? We do not like you!” he’s seen yelling while violently pounding on the shop’s window.
The 54-year-old, who appears to be inebriated, is also seen threatening the woman and her customers.
“You think you’re safe, but you’re not going to be safe for soon,” he says. “You might get away with this one, but you’re going to have a f****** problem.”
He goes on to call the woman a “piece of s***” and an “a**hole” before saying, “Listen, I will blast your face off,” while encouraging the woman to come outside, presumably to fight him.
The woman, who looks like she’s trying to get Ramminger out the door, dodges one of his swings and swipes back at him, prompting one of the men in the room to stand up, possibly to come to the woman’s aid.
It’s unclear how the situation ended.
A man narrating the Instagram video to his followers said that the woman called the police and they took hours to get there, arriving only after “the danger had ended.”
In a news release, officials at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department disputed that claim.
“We received a call about a man yelling at a business near Ridge Route and Lake Forest drives at 6:47 p.m. on Friday, May 30,” the release states. “With the information provided to dispatch, the call was assigned as a low-priority call. The deputies responded to the call and arrived at the business in less than 30 minutes.”
Sheriff’s officials said that a report was taken and given to investigators, who took Ramminger into custody on Wednesday at around 2:30 p.m. on suspicion of trespassing, assault and battery, criminal threats and charges related to hate crimes.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information about the investigation is asked to contact OCSD at 949-770-6011.
