A man who racially abused a Chinese family in Canada changed his tone after realizing he was on camera, according to an Asian witness he allegedly targeted next.
The incident, which was caught on video, occurred at the Burger King outlet in Ironwood Plaza, a shopping mall in Richmond, British Columbia at around 3 p.m. on May 1.
What happened: The witness, identified only as Benjamin W., described a commotion as soon as he arrived at the Burger King drive-thru.
- While lining up his car, Benjamin saw a man at the drive-thru window standing next to a Chinese family in a minivan.
- Benjamin told NextShark he heard the man yell “China virus,” “Because of you the world is like this!” and “Go back to your country!” to the family.
- Outraged, Benjamin drew the man’s attention to himself, telling him to “Get the f*** out.”
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- In a dashcam video Benjamin posted, the alleged aggressor can be heard yelling, “F*** you, motherf***er,” “F***ing Chinese motherf***er” and “I’ll f***ing kill you!” in his direction.
- In a phone video, the man is then seen standing outside Benjamin’s window, telling him, “Nice meeting you.”
Incident reported: Benjamin told NextShark he forwarded all the evidence he had gathered to local law enforcement.
- “His demeanor quickly changed when I took out my phone to record his face. Little did he know the exchange was captured on my dashcam,” Benjamin wrote in an Instagram post.
- Aside from his racist behavior, Benjamin criticized the man for violating Canada’s 6-foot (2-meter) social distancing rule.
- “I’m not sure what business he had there at the drive-thru window since he was not in a vehicle. He was also not wearing his mask while being in close proximity to the people in the van,” he told NextShark.
- Benjamin believes the man had committed a threat and a hate crime. “The main outcome I want is for this man to learn from his mistake and change his attitude towards other races. He needs to educate himself and not be so ignorant. We are all in this together no matter the skin color,” he said.
- While he felt upset in the moment, Benjamin is unsure about standing up to the aggressor if his wife and 1-year-old child were in his car. “I may have just stayed quiet as I would fear for the safety of my occupants,” he told NextShark. “But I was alone in my car yesterday so I didn’t hold back.”
Benjamin said he first shared the incident on his private Instagram account, but followers urged him to make it public to “bring attention to the racism that people face daily.”
NextShark has reached out to Richmond RCMP for further comment and will update this article accordingly.
Feature Images: Handout
