Woman Involved In Palo Alto 'MAGA' Hat Confrontation Found Safe
PALO ALTO (CBS SF) -- The woman at the center of a "MAGA" hat confrontation in Palo Alto earlier this month has been reported safe Tuesday.
46-year-old Rebecca Parker Mankey was reported missing Friday morning when she didn't return to her Palo Alto home after visiting a friend in Lake County.
Earlier in April, Mankey was seen on social media berating an elderly man for wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat at Starbucks.
The incident and her posts went viral, sparking severe backlash.
"This crazy woman came over and started raving at me. She turned to the rest of Starbucks and said, 'Hey everybody, here's this racist over here. He hates brown people, he's crazy, he's a Nazi,' and so forth," Victor F. told KPIX 5 on April 4.
Mankey then began taking photos and posting about it on her Facebook page, saying she was going to shame him, get him fired, kicked out of clubs and march up and down his street.
Victor said she left, then came back and tried to rile the Starbucks crowd once more. The incident and her posts went viral on social media and sparked a debate on the country's divided politics.
The confrontation and outrage over it led to Mankey being fired from her job at a music store in Palo Alto.
Authorities said two cell phone pings on Friday placed Mankey in the Aberdeen area of Washington state, southwest of Seattle.
Authorities reported that Mankey contacted her family Tuesday morning.
