ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — Officers with the Abbotsford Police Department have contacted the hate crimes unit and Crown counsel as they investigate a hate-filled rant caught on video.
Sgt. Judy Bird says the disturbing incident on Friday has been posted online.
WARNING: Video contains coarse language
She says a man who unleashed an angry tirade was mad about a ticket issued for parking in a reserved space.
The video shows a man getting out of a truck and walking aggressively toward the person who issued the ticket and someone else who was recording the incident.
The passenger hurls a torrent of racial slurs, raising his arm and declaring a “white power” sentiment as he keeps swearing.
“When did you come to Canada?” he yells as he continues his expletive-laden tirade.
“I was born in Canada,” a man replies as the passenger gets back into the truck that is slowly driven out of a parking lot as the man carries on swearing.
Bird says police are not yet certain if the initial target of the slurs was an Abbotsford bylaw officer or an employee of a private parking firm.
She says the person who was recording the incident is also taunted with expletives that she called shocking and upsetting.
Everyone involved has now been identified and further progress on the case is expected, Bird says.
Last month, Edmonton’s mayor called on people to “make it awkward” and call out racism after a viral video showed someone hurling a racist slur on a city street.
Actor and former high-jump champion Jesse Lipscombe, who is black, was filming a public service announcement when he was hit with the verbal assault.
The camera kept rolling as Lipscombe approached a grey, four-door sedan. Lipscombe opened the car door and asked the passenger, a middle-aged white man, if he had anything to say. The man denied he said anything, struggled to close the door and yelled another slur as the car took off.
