Help Tyler recover from a hate crime

On June 29th, just 3 weeks after my 30th birthday, a man named Mike Gosselin pulled up beside me in traffic, rolled his window down, and began screaming racial epithets at me. He asked me if Black lives mattered, why are my people always under his? He proceeded to then follow me to my home to continue his assault. He tried twice to hit me with his car, and when I asked him why he’d followed me home, why he wouldn’t leave me alone, why he was in my driveway, screaming at me, he replied that I was black—so I deserved it. He said “if black lives matter, they’ll matter underneath my truck.” He called the police claiming I assaulted him after I stopped him from reaching through the window to hit me as I stood beside the vehicle, and only left when they showed up after I called as well, begging for help, because none of the bystanders watching would help me.

In short, this incident has…profoundly traumatized me. I’m afraid to leave my home—and also afraid to stay in it. I’ve missed a considerable amount of work due to anxiety stemming from this event, and so has my fiancé. I have trouble driving, trouble sleeping. The man who stalked and attempted to run me down has been determined as “not a danger” to the community, and is now out until his court date—if there even is one. I love living in Vermont, and I love so many of the people I’ve met here, but I have experienced more outright violent racism here than I ever have anywhere else I have ever lived. This is the third racist incident I’ve experienced in my three years of living here, each one public, each one witnessed.

I created this Gofundme to help with daily costs and expenses that I can no longer keep up with due to anxiety and depression. I’m increasing the frequency of my therapy sessions, in addition to seeking out additional treatment. I will also use this money for legal aid to help me seek justice if the system fails me. I just want to be able to rest and try to recover from this violent, racist and traumatic event, I want to get security cameras and an alarm system for our apartment, so I can feel safer staying there. Please, please help me.