Woman fired after screaming racial slurs at black couple on California freeway

Twitter users identify woman and contact employer after footage shared widely online

A California woman has reportedly been fired from her job for yelling racial slurs at a black couple on an interstate freeway.

The woman was caught screaming curse words and insults at Oakland residents Marshaunte Farris and Shamiek Sheppard, who posted video of the incident on Twitter.

Ms Farris told a local news outlet her boyfriend was driving her home from Vallejo, California, where she receives regular treatment for Crohn's disease, when they spotted the woman driving near them on the eastbound Interstate 80 freeway.

Mr Sheppard claimed he saw the woman driving erratically, and switched lanes to try to keep away from her. But the woman changed lanes too, cutting him off.

When Mr Sheppard once again switched lanes to avoid the woman, he claimed, she drove up next to him and started screaming racial slurs.

In video shared widely on social media, the woman can be seen screaming n***** and other profanities from her open window, and making obscene gestures.

"It actually made me upset ... I was kind of shocked that she went along and said that," Ms Farris told local news station KRON4.

Ms Farris posted the video to Twitter, listing the woman’s licence plate number and writing: “Twitter do yo thang.”

Twitter users followed through on the request, quickly identifying the woman and her employer, a financial services company with offices in the area. Several Twitter sleuths even called the company, which confirmed on Thursday that the woman had been fired.

"The behaviour reflected in the video is completely inconsistent with our values and the individual involved is no longer employed by the firm,” a representative from the company told KRON4.

The woman and her employer did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment.

Ms Farris filed a report with the California Highway Patrol, which is investigating the incident.

"I just wanted to post the video to hopefully make it go viral, so that we could set an example that it is not ok for people to do stuff like that,” Ms Farris said.

“I do think that she should be charged at least with something,” she added. “She could have killed us."

The incident comes after a New York lawyer was caught on video lambasting employees at a Manhattan restaurant for speaking Spanish.

After a similar social media backlash, local politicians filed a formal complaint against the man with the state’s court system, and his law practice was kicked out of its office building. The man later issued an apology, claiming the racist rant was “not the person I am”.