Man arrested after yelling racial slurs, spitting at Asian family in Victoria, police say

Man arrested after yelling racial slurs, spitting at Asian family in Victoria, police say
CHEK News
Police are investigating a recent "hated-motivated" assault on an Asian family in Victoria.

Police are investigating a recent hate-motivated assault on an Asian family in Victoria.

According to the Victoria Police Department, one of their non-uniformed officers witnessed a shirtless man acting erratically, yelling and posturing aggressively toward a man and his child, in the 3000-block of Quadra Street at around 12 p.m. on May 4. 

The man and the child were able to move away from the suspect and were not harmed, however, police say the man headed towards Quadra Elementary School, where obtained a broom handle and approached an Asian woman walking with a stroller and her four children.

Victoria Police say the man then spat at the family, narrowly missing a child, and yelled racial slurs about the family’s Asian ethnicity.

The non-uniformed officer, who saw this all unfold, attempted to intervene. However, the man then attacked the non-uniformed officer’s vehicle, damaging it.

Eventually, uniformed officers arrived and arrested the man, who was transported to cells where he is held in custody.

Victoria Police say the man, who was not identified, is facing recommended charges of assault and mischief and that they are treating the incident as a hate-motivated crime.

Hate crimes towards Asians have been on the rise since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, however, according to the Victoria Police Department, there has not been a significant increase in reported hate crimes in the city.

“British Columbia and North America have seen significant increases in hate-motivated crime towards Asian persons. Thankfully we have not seen a similar significant increase in these crimes towards Asian members of our Victoria and Esquimalt communities,” said Const. Cam MacIntyre of the Victoria Police Department.

CHEK News has reached out to VicPD for hate crime statistics.

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