FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Muslim woman from Miami took to Facebook Live on Tuesday, moments after she said that she was harassed by a Donald Trump supporter while she was driving through Fort Lauderdale, the Miami New Times first reported.
"I just need a place to vent. I can't believe this just happened," Flavia Almonte said in the video. "I'm still like shaking and my heart is pounding. Wow."
Almonte, who describes herself on her Facebook profile as a graduate student, mother of two and Latina Muslim convert, said she was on her way to the courthouse for National Adoption Day when she was confronted by a Trump supporter who was riding a motorcycle.
"As I'm driving, this guy -- I was looking away, and then I turned and looked at him. He starts yelling at me and yelling at me. And I'm like, 'What the hell is wrong with him?'" Almonte said.
Almonte said the man began "mouthing" off things to her from two lanes over, and calling her names, including "bitch."
"Then he just circles around, starts circling around and then he goes through the other lane like a maniac, and it's a red light," she said. "He is at the corner of an intersection so he keeps circling around me and is circling with his bike, and at the time I'm thinking, 'I'm stuck in the middle of a red light and I can't go anywhere.' That was really scary."
Almonte said she couldn't make out everything that the man was saying to her, but said that he mentioned Trump and "cursed me out."
She said she pulled over in front of a police officer's car before recording the Facebook Live video.
Almonte said she was in fear for her life, especially when the man began reaching into his pockets.
"I thought he was going to take out a gun or something. I don't even know," Almonte said through tears. "That was so scary. Thankfully, nothing happened."
Almonte said the incident made her feel "helpless" and reaffirmed her belief that while she feels safe at home in Miami, she needs to be "vigilant" when going out of her comfort zone because some people are "hateful."
"I almost felt like in the moment, maybe I should take off my hijab. Maybe nobody would notice if I was in a car that I'm wearing this. It's so scary," she said. "All these thoughts come in to your mind when something like that happens. And this is in Fort Lauderdale, I don't know. I'm just saying, 'Watch out guys.' It's so stupid. I don't want to scare people, but at the same time, just be vigilant, because you never know."
Just six hours after Almonte posted the video, it had been viewed more than 1,400 times.
Local 10 News reporter Michael Seiden spoke to Almonte's mother, who said that she was worried that the video would "only bring trouble."
Fort Lauderdale police spokesman Keven Dupree said he was not aware of a police report filed with the Police Department.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that more than 700 hate crimes have been reported in the U.S. since Trump was elected president.