The alleged incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. on July 9 at a convenience store/gas station on Lasalle Boulevard
A 31-year-old man faces hate-motivated charges after a verbal and physical altercation outside 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 on Instagram. Click here to view the video in question, which requires a content warning for racism, heated arguments and possible violence.
In the video, a man is seen yelling racial slurs at a customer who is a black woman.
A media release issued today by the Greater Sudbury Police Service noted that they received a call about an assault after the fact at approximately 10:30 p.m.
“The information provided was that two individuals were involved in a verbal dispute where a male made racist comments to another customer which resulted in a physical altercation between the two individuals outside the store,” according to the media release.
“Due to the hate-based nature of this incident, the matter has been assigned to a detective in our Criminal Investigation Division’s Major Crimes Division who is specifically trained as an investigator of hate and hate-biased/hate-motivated crimes.”
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
- It causes disturbance
The man was released on a promise to appear and his name has not been released as the information has not yet been declared in court.
In consultation with prosecutors, police say the charges are hate-motivated, which will be taken into account when sentencing at trial.
“We will continue to work with the Crown throughout this case, while providing support to the survivor and his family,” the police said in a statement.
“We know that hate crime and hate-related incidents are extremely under-reported and we are working hard to change this. The Greater Sudbury Police Service takes reports of hate crimes and bias incidents very seriously, and we recognize the impact and pain felt by community members when there is evidence of hate. We want to assure you that we are committed to thoroughly investigating these situations. We take these matters seriously.”
In their release, police also noted that through their Diversity Advisory Committee, officers have been invited to present hate/bias motivated incidents at a variety of community engagement events allowing for personal interaction with various members of the community.
“This is one step towards building trust in different communities, hopefully making it easier for community members to report incidents to the police,” they said.
“While hate/bias motivated incidents are underreported, 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 released earlier this week, Black Lives Matter noted that this was not an isolated incident and urged others to speak up for those in need, as the woman in the video did when she stood up for an employee who is of color.
“While Sudbury tries to pride itself on being an inclusive, safe and friendly community, the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) population and specifically members of the black community continue to face attacks of this nature on a regular basis and without hesitation,” they write.
“To our allies, we urge you to speak up and intervene when you witness something of this nature. You side with the oppressor when you remain silent.”
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