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Like many residents, former Select Board candidate Jessie Bennett has bumper stickers on her car. Yesterday morning at approximately 8:20 a.m., the Nest doorbell video on her home shows a National Grid van drive past her house on Trowbridge Street, then stop and wait a few feet in front of her car. A few minutes later, the Nest video shows the van back up and pull into the space behind Bennett’s car and blast its horn. A few minutes later, the Nest video shows a talk radio station was blaring out the window the National Grid van and the man inside could be heard yelling, “Loser!”

The Nest video shows the voice on the radio continued for several minutes. At 8:30 a.m., the Nest video shows Bennett’s wife Stephanie and their fourth grader leave the home and walk past the van. The Nest video shows the man yelling something out of his van window as they walked by. He continued yelling for several more minutes.

Bennett went outside to see what was going on and saw the National Grid van. The Nest video shows he beeped the horn when he saw her try to approach his van to ask him what was going on.

An her iPhone recording taken by Bennett shows her asking the man in the National Grid van, “What’s your name sir and why are you doing this?”

Bennett's Iphone video shows the man behind the wheel was wearing a “Trump 2020” baseball hat. In the video, he said, “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

Bennett's Iphone video shows her ask him if he was drunk and he answers, “I just hate all your (expletive) on your car.” The stickers on Bennett’s car show her support for Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, Family Equality Council, Advancing Equality for LGBTQ Families.

The Iphone video taken by Bennett shows Bennett and a neighbor telling the employee to continue on to his job.

In the video, Bennett says, “What’s your problem? Go someplace else."You’re the one who’s stopping in front of somebody’s house because you dislike their bumper stickers. I don’t go in front of any Trump person’s house and scream and blast ‘Rachel Maddow’ first thing in the morning."

Police and National Grid contacted

A neighbor called the Belmont Police but when the officer arrived, the National Grid employee was gone.

Bennett said her immediate response was to let National Grid know what was going on. She sent out a tweet to National Grid and posted the video she took with her Iphone on Facebook.

National Grid issued the following statement to the Citizen-Herald on Oct. 4: “We at National Grid were deeply concerned earlier this week upon learning from one of our customers in Belmont, Massachusetts, of a troubling exchange she had with an on-duty National Grid employee. Upon learning of the incident, we reviewed the video evidence, apologized to the customer for what she experienced, and as of today, the worker in the video is no longer an employee of National Grid. Our strong commitment to inclusion and diversity at National Grid includes demonstrating respect at all times to one another as fellow human beings."

Bennett said she is thankful for how the Belmont community has shown support for her and her family, including members of the Human Rights Commission.

In an email to the Citizen-Herald, Fran Yuan, vice chairman of the Human Rights Commission, wrote she's afraid his type of behavior has escalated across the country and created an atmosphere of intimidation, fear, and animosity among people.



"Ms. Bennett really took charge of the situation, reported it, and appealed to her strong support system in Belmont. We at the Human Rights Commission continue to be available to her and others who experience bias and harassment of any kind," wrote Yuan.

“I felt targeted and hurt because of the visible stuff on the back of my car,” she said, adding she feels unsafe in her home. She was also concerned her fourth grader, who had to walk by the man’s van on her way to school could have been affected by the incident.

Assistant Belmont Police Chief James MacIsaac said Belmont Police will be investigating the incident.