Calgary man charged with assault, uttering threats in hate incident

Calgary police have identified a man who was originally wanted in connection with a recent hate-motivated crime.

But further investigation cast doubt on hate being the motivation behind the incident, according to police.

At around 1:15 p.m. on Oct. 20, a woman was crossing the Southwood Centre parking lot when someone began honking at her from a parked vehicle. According to a Saturday press release from police, a man then emerged from the vehicle, rushing toward the victim while aggressively gesturing and making punching motions in front of the woman’s face while verbally threatening that he would kill her because of his assumption of her religion.

The woman continued to walk to her vehicle, drove home and then reported the incident to police.

Tips from the public and police investigations led police to charge Kevin Morgan, 58, of Calgary, with one count of assault and one count of uttering threats. Morgan is due in court on Nov. 30.

Police found that, despite the alleged hate-based comments, it didn’t appear that the comments were the motivation behind the actions that led to the offences. Police said investigation and consultation between district officers and the hate crime prevention team led to that conclusion.

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Because the incident doesn’t meet the threshold for a hate-motivated crime, it has been classified as a hate incident.

1:54 Hate crime unit investigating incident at Calgary Jewish Centre

“A hate incident is an occurrence where a person displays their hate or bias towards a person or group identifiable by their personal characteristics (race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, etc.), but the act does not meet the threshold of a criminal offence,” CPS said on Tuesday.

“A hate-motivated crime is a recognizable crime like assault, theft, vandalism or any other crime, where the offender’s actions are motivated by hate, bias, or prejudice towards one or more of the victim’s personal characteristics.”

CPS said there is no place for hate in the city and recognized that hate-motivated crimes and incidents impact communities as well as the victims.

More information on how and why to report hate crimes is available on the Calgary Police Service website.