“This Is Why I Carry”: Driver Yells at Red Light, Then Appears to Threaten Person Recording Him

A viral video captioned "Downtown LA is not real" shows a driver yelling while stopped at a red light before turning his attention toward the person recording.

In the clip, which appears to have been recorded by a pedestrian on a busy street in Los Angeles, cars are stopped at a red light when a man sitting inside a silver car is seen looking toward the camera while yelling about something that has him enraged.

It's hard to make out exactly what he's saying, but he's clearly not happy. Also sitting on his lap, positioned in front of him and the steering wheel, is what looks like a large purple balloon. The man continues yelling before it becomes a little clearer who he's directing his attention at.

The Man Then Threatens the Pedestrian Filming His Breakdown

While the first part of the man's yelling doesn't make it clear who or what he's mad at, he can eventually be heard yelling at the person filming. "I'm telling you, you better put that phone down," he shouts.

He continues yelling, repeating, "I'm telling you," before beginning a countdown with his fingers. Starting at five, he counts all the way down until he's holding up just his pinky. The camera then pans over to the traffic light, which is still red, before showing the rest of the intersection to give viewers a better view of the scene.

The clip ends there, so it's unclear what comes next. But the conversation continued in the comments, with one person writing, "This is why I carry," presumably referring to carrying a firearm for protection.

Others, however, were focused less on the man's outburst and more on the purple balloon sitting in his lap. One commenter wrote, "No mention of the nitrous balloon on his lap?" after noticing the X user (@WallStreetApes) who reshared the clip didn't mention it. Another commented, "You do realize he's driving around with a balloon for nitrous oxide, right?" 

While the X user who reshared the video suggested the situation could have escalated into something even more dangerous, one commenter wasn't convinced the man posed a threat to the surrounding community. "This guy is all smack, no sack. He won't do anything but talk big from his car. I dealt with guys like this regularly when I was a prison guard in California. The ones that will get you will never say a word, they'll say it with actions, violent actions, and there will be no warning," they wrote.

The video prompted a range of reactions, with some commenters expressing concern about the driver's behavior while others questioned whether he intended to act on his remarks.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the circumstances shown in the video or the claims made by commenters.