Police make an arrest in suspected hate crime
Lombray Ball is charged with 2 counts of assault and threatening death
Toronto police have made an arrest after a video went viral showing a man yelling at a family at Jack Layton Ferry Terminal.
A man is seen in the video approaching two men and members of their families Monday. He’s captured on video repeatedly shouting, pushing and threatening them as they wait in line at the terminal.
“You don’t ask me a question in my f---ing province,” the man screams at them.
At one point in the video, he appears to push one of the younger men, who then shoves him away in return.
As the encounter escalates, people in the background of the video can be heard calling for security.
“We need a police officer right now, because there is a man ha- rassing us,” one person said. “This man is abusing my brother. He is touching him, he is pushing him,” they said.
One of the younger men can be seen constantly urging several other men, women and at least two young children to stay back.
Near the end of the video, the older man becomes increasingly more aggressive, shouting, “What are you going to do? I’ll smash your f---ing head in.”
He points at the family as they talk to a security officer and screams, “I’ll f---ing kill you.”
The video does not show the start of the confrontation, which police said took place Monday at 6:30 p.m.
Lombray Ball, 50, from Toronto was arrested Thursday. He’s charged with two counts of assault and threatening death.
Police were able to identify and arrest the man with the help of a complainant, Toronto police Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu told the Star. The investigation is ongoing. Ball was scheduled to appear in court Friday at Old City Hall.
In a statement, the National Council of Canadian Muslims said it is “aware of the recent viral video depicting a racist verbal assault” at the terminal.
“The language used in the video against the family — some of whom are visibly Muslim — is abhorrent and unacceptable,” the statement reads. “We are currently attempting to reach out to the family to make sure they receive any support they may need, including the children who were unfortunately present during this incident.” Amira Elghawaby, board member for the Canadian AntiHate Network, which researches and monitors hate groups, said the group is “really pleased to see the police acting quite quickly to bring charges against this individual.”
“It’s very critical that authorities do send a signal to anyone who considers taking any hateful, harmful action against anyone,” she said.