Hamilton police now investigating Walmart confrontation as a hate crime

Hamilton police are now investigatinga confrontation where aman was caught on video yelling racist comments at a couple in a Walmart parking lot as ahate crime.

Dale Robertson, 47,of Stoney Creek, is charged with threatening death, dangerous driving and failing to remain at the sceneafter the Friday afternoon incident.

A video of the argument, which police haveconfirmed shows the incident they're investigating, features a man appearing to ramthe person filming him with atruck and yelling "I'm racist as f---k" and "I would kill your children."

Couple 'traumatized'

Det. Paul Corriganis with the service's hate crime unit. He saysthe man and woman who were targeted weretraumatized by what happened.

"It hit them really hard," he said. "They were extremely shocked by it, they had not experienced [something like this] before."

Police are now reviewing Robertson's social media accounts and security footage from the parking lot. They are alsoasking anyone who witnessed the confrontation to come forward.

"If we can prove motivation that's a major part of the investigation," Corrigan said. "What motivated this person to behave the way they did?"

• 'I would kill your children': Cops look at Walmart confrontation as possible hate crime

He added the video of the confrontation, which was posted on social media by PatrykLaszczuk, is also part of the evidence police are reviewing.

"The video is useful. It forms part of the investigation and at the moment we're still looking at that."

WARNING: This video contains offensive language.

Laszczuksaid the victim in the video is his coworker, who told him the argument started after the couple tried to back into a parking spot and apparently got in the way of the man who is charged.

The video shows aman walking alongside a silver pickupas it slowly drives away and saying,"You want me to goto my own country? I'm a Canadian citizen."

A man in the truckshouts back, "Show me.Prove it. I don't believe you" before mimicking the otherother man's accent saying, "You don't talk like a Canadian."

"I'm racist as f--k. I don't like you, I don't like her," he adds."I would kill your children first."

Corrigansaid the service has "quite a few people" working on the case.

• What is a hate crime?

There's no added charge for a hate crime, explained the detective. But if investigators can show an accused'sactionswere motivated by hate, police canwork with the Crown attorney's office to apply for an increased penalty upon conviction.

High numberof hate reports

Hamilton has the the second-highest rate of police-reported hate crimes in the country, according to Corrigan, but the detective said that's not necessarily a bad thing.

So far, 58 hate or bias incidents have been recorded this year about equal to the number reported by this point in 2017 so Corrigan said rate of reports seems to be plateauing.

• Hamilton hate and bias incidents rose 18% in 2017, police say

The city's police also "actively encourage" residentsto contact them about hate-related incidents, so Corrigan considers the high numbers proof that people are getting the message.

"No matter how small people may feel the incident is, we want them to report it."