A 31-year-old man is facing hate-motivated charges following a verbal argument and physical altercation outside of a convenience store/gas station on Lasalle Boulevard on July 9.
The incident went viral this week after a video of the altercation was posted to Instagram. Click here to view the video in question, which warrants a content warning for racism, heated arguing and possible violence.
In the video, a man is seen yelling racial slurs toward a customer who is a Black woman.
In a media release issued by Greater Sudbury Police Service today, it’s noted they received a call regarding an assault after the fact, at approximately 10:30 p.m.
“Information provided was that two individuals had been in a verbal argument where a man made racially charged comments towards another customer resulting in a physical altercation between the two individuals outside of the store,” according to the media release.
“Due to the hate-based nature of this incident, the matter was assigned to a detective in the Major Crime Section of our Criminal Investigation Division who is specifically trained as a Hate Crime and Hate-bias/Hate-motivated Investigator.”
As a result of this investigation, a 31-year-old man has been charged with the following Criminal Code of Canada offences:
- Assault with a Weapon
- Assault
- Cause a Disturbance
The man was released on a Promise to Appear, and his name is not being released as the information has not yet been sworn through the court process.
Through consultation with the Crown Attorney’s Office, police report the charges were motivated by hate or bias, which will be taken into account during sentencing within the court process, should the man be found guilty.
“We will continue to work with the Crown throughout this case while providing support to the survivor and their family,” according to the police media release.
“We know that Hate Crimes and Hate-bias incidents are extremely under-reported and we are working hard to change that. The Greater Sudbury Police Service takes reports of Hate-motivated crime and Hate-bias incidents very seriously and we recognize the impact on and pain felt by community members when there is evidence of hatred. We want to assure you that we are committed to investigating these situations thoroughly. We take these matters seriously.”
In their release, police also note that through their Diversity Advisory Committee, officers have been invited to present on Hate-motivated/bias incidents at various diverse community engagement events allowing for personal interactions with diverse community members.
“This is one step toward building trust within diverse communities, hopefully making community members more comfortable when reporting incidents to police,” they said.
“Although Hate-motivated/bias incidents are under-reported, we continue to work with our internal members, community members and community partners to build public trust through transparency and community engagement through education and awareness.”
In a statement issued earlier this week, Black Lives Matter noted this is not an isolated incident, and urged others to speak up for those in need, as the woman featured in the video did when standing up for a clerk, who is of colour.
“While Sudbury attempts to pride itself on being an inclusive, safe, and friendly community, the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) population and specifically Black community members continue to face attacks of this nature regularly and without hesitation,” they wrote.
“To our allies, we urge you to speak up and intervene when you witness anything remotely of this nature. You side with the oppressor when you remain silent.”
