California firefighter who shouted racist remarks in viral TikTok said he was having "a bad day"
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY — An Alameda County firefighter was recorded on video shouting racist remarks toward a Stockton man.
A TikTok with over half a million views shows the firefighter shouting racist remarks after a crash on Highway 99 just south of Lodi on Harney Lane and Armstrong Road.
"D------ Mexican or Filipino, whatever you are," the firefighter said in the video.
He is not identified because the Alameda County Fire Department has not confirmed his identity.
"Probably going to work at some f------ lawn job," the firefighter said in the video.
Alameda County's fire chief confirmed the firefighter has worked with them for over 20 years.
We went to the Rocklin home believed to belong to the firefighter. The man declined our invitation for an interview but did not deny he was the man in the video.
"I'm very sorry. That's not me," he said. "I had a bad day. That doesn't represent my family."
"If it came out, that's what you feel deep down inside," Vath Touch said. "It doesn't matter what you say now."
Touch is the man who recorded the video and posted it online. After the crash last Friday, Touch said he saw the firefighter walking up to his window and pressed record for safety.
"When a person comes up like that, you don't know what's going to happen," he said. "It turned out that it became this way. I didn't hit record to get all this, but it just so happened that I got it."
"I'm not racist. I'm a firefighter," the firefighter said in the video during the argument.
Alameda County Fire Chief William MacDonald said, "I don't consider it a hate crime, I consider it embarrassing."
The chief held a news conference Monday morning and announced all firefighters would be taking sensitivity training as a result.
"Whatever race you are, thinking of saying stuff, you got to restrain yourself from saying anything at all if you are a public servant," Touch said.