Video told the story, says witness
Waitress was serving both parties that night
Awitness to a racist tirade by a Cranbrook woman directed at four men in a local Denny’s said there is no doubt in her mind who started the incident. Two video recordings of the incident, which occurred in the early morning hours of April 21, have since gone viral across social media.
The videos show a woman identified as Kelly Pocha using racially charged language and threatening four men in a table beside hers.
After telling the men to “go back to your f***ing country,” Pocha further responded with profanity to a request to be respectful, and became more aggressive when the men said they were all Canadians.
She then went on a tirade about whether they paid taxes.
“You’re not dealing with one of your Syrian bitches right now,” she said. “You’re dealing with a Canadian woman, and I’m not going to be talked down to by you.”
Alex Smith was the waitress who was serving both tables involved in the altercation. She has since quit her job at Denny’s due to what she described as management issues.
Smith seated Pocha and her husband at a table and then later sat four men, including Monir Omerzai and Mutjab Abdul Gahafar, at the table next to them.
Smith said she noted Pocha appeared to be intoxicated before the incident began, and it was only a short time later that an argument broke out between the two tables.
“I got my manager and asked what to do,” she said, adding her role in these situations is not to get directly involved but to allow management to deal with it.
“My manager just called the cops like we were supposed to do,” she said. “They came in and talked with my manager, then I think they both decided it would be best for both parties to leave.”
Pocha has publicly stated the videos do not show the whole story of what happened, and that she was responding to the behaviour of the men at the next table.
But Smith disputes that version of the story.
“From my perspective, I knew who started it, and we should have just asked (Pocha) to leave,” Smith said.
“It all started because she heard them talking in a different language. She turned around, saw one of the guys looking at her, and that’s what (set her off ).”
Smith’s description of the incident seems to corroborate the events as they unfolded in the video.
“The video is completely correct,” said Smith. “That’s exactly what happened.”
“There was no justification for what she did,” she said.
On Thursday, Lethbridge Police Chief Rob Davis held a news conference to address concerns regarding how police handled the incident and to provide an update on the investigation.
He said police were present to keep the peace and assist, and that they were not fully aware of what had taken place until the video surfaced this week. He said initially, at the scene, there was not enough information available for charges. But after what has come out since the event occurred, he said there “potentially” could be charges arising — though it is too soon to tell for sure.
He made it very clear police did not condone the things said by Pocha on the video.
“There’s no getting around the fact the comments that were made were disgusting and should not be tolerated,” said Davis.
“Let’s stick up for each other. This isn’t the first racist rant we’ve heard in Canada. It won’t be the last.”
Police have conducted interviews and have acquired video footage of the incident from Denny’s.
Davis said social media claims that one group was escorted by police are false. And claims the men were forced to leave without their food even after paying for it are false.
Police are looking into whether claims made to the officers on-scene that there was video of the incident were properly addressed.
“We have to investigate that more,” Davis said.
On a personal note, Davis said some of the comments made by Pocha on the video affected him personally as an indigenous person — particularly accusations she made that the men were not tax-paying members of society.
“When she went on that whole tax tirade, I’ve lived that myself as an aboriginal,” he said.
“When I heard that it struck close to home for me as well.”
Davis said the right move was made by a person who was off-camera challenging Pocha on her statements during the argument.
“Whoever this off-camera voice is, in my mind, she’s a hero,” said Davis. “We’re all Canadian. And she makes some other comments.
“I think, as a society, that’s where we need to move.
Smith said Pocha did return and apologize for what happened that evening, but she believed Pocha may have been banned from the restaurant.
Denny’s Canada posted a statement to its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon in response to the situation.
“Based on our initial internal investigation, it appears our manager followed proper protocol but was unable to de-escalate the situation, and thus contacted local law enforcement.”
The statement goes on to say Denny’s has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind, and the corporation does not condone or accept the type of behaviour and language displayed in the video.
“We do apologize and regret that our guests had to endure this customer’s terrible behaviour and continue to work with local officials on their investigation of this incident,” the statement reads.
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