Public School Clerk Resigns After Racist Rant, Spitting on Black Couple

At a Shop Rite in East Haven, Conn., a racist woman shopping with her two small children is caught on camera spitting on a Black man and woman, repeatedly calling them the N-word and screaming other obscenities. Authorities say she is the one who started the altercation.

At one point in the video, filmed Friday night, she starts to try to record also and the person holding the camera, potentially the man in the couple, knocks it out of her hand.

The woman, Corinne Terrone, resigned from her job with the Hamden Public Schools district after the video went viral and attracted nationwide condemnation. Since Terrone’s children were present and look visibly distraught in the video, the district filed a Department of Children and Families report.

The victims who seemed to be the ones recording the video have not been located and police are looking for them and the other witnesses so they can press charges against Terrone. Assault could be a potential charge because of the spitting and at minimum she could be charged with a breach of the peace, according to law enforcement.

Law enforcement said that one of the victims might also have been in a motorized scooter used in the store for the elderly or those with disabilities or injuries.

The population of East Haven is predominantly white at 82.5 percent; 14.6 percent Latino;  4.5 percent Asian; and 2.5 percent Black.

The video, first posted to a Facebook profile, has been shared more than 11,000 times and commented on more than 3,000 times.

Many Twitter users have called for a review of the grades and records of Black students that she may have handled to look out for potential mistreatment.

Supporters of Terrone say that she could have been provoked before the video starts, as if that justifies her using racial slurs.

Mayor Curt Leng and Council President Michael McGarry condemned Terrone’s actions, in a joint statement:

“What I saw was vile and shocking. While I am disgusted and disheartened seeing such hateful behavior, wildly unacceptable anywhere, I am thankful for the swift and effective actions taken by our school system to address this head-on and make clear that hate and violence will not be tolerated,” Leng said.

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