Road Rage and Race Play Roles in Brooklyn Trial

By JENNIFER SZULMAN & SAMAIRAH KHAN

A black postal worker took the stand in a Brooklyn hate crime trial on Tuesday and described how he was verbally and physically assaulted by a white off-duty firefighter over a traffic incident in Gerritsen Beach last November.

Rene Isidore, 57, testified that the event was a case of road rage that happened when he got out of his USPS truck to collect mail and was confronted by the defendant Luke Schreiner who accused him of hitting his car.

According to Isidore, Schreiner, an 18-year FDNY veteran, “casually” walked over and asked, “What? Do you want to get smacked today?” Schreiner, 50, who weighs 300 pounds, allegedly then slapped the mailman, making his Bluetooth fall to the ground, roshe run suede femmes and attempted to crush the device. Schreiner then took Isidore’s sunglasses off his face and broke them in half, the witness added.

The mailman added the firefighter spewed racial slurs him, saying, “You’re nothing. You’re a f—-ing n—–.”

Isidore said he has never had any problems while delivering mail to the Brooklyn neighborhood and did nothing to provoke the man.

“I’ve been trained to defuse violent situations when I’m out there on the street,” he said.

Defense lawyer Robert Gallo, said that while Schreiner’s alleged use of the N-word was “reprehensible,” it was nothing but a traffic dispute and not fueled by racism.

“This has nothing to do with race,” Gallo said. “He would have acted the same if Mr. Isidore was white, black, Asian or green.”

Schreiner allegedly also belittled a black female passerby who at the time of the incident was about to go into her home. Assistant DA Damani Sims said that the woman claims the firefighter yelled at her and the mailman, “You’re all n—–s. You’re the color of my s—!”

Schreiner was charged with criminal mischief, menacing and attempted assault, all as a hate crime. Schreiner has two previous arrests for assault. He could face up to four years in prison if convicted by Judge John Ingram in the case, which is a bench trial.