Ottawa police say they are investigating an alleged racially charged incident after Jenny Dao-D’Angelo, a woman of Chinese descent, submitted a complaint about how she was treated by two individuals in an Ottawa parking lot.
In a post published on her Facebook page on Sept. 18, Dao-D’Angelo alleges a woman and her husband confronted her with “racist remarks” while she was walking to her car with her baby, mother and 88-year-old grandmother.
“I still can’t believe that in Ottawa in 2018, racist things like this can happen,” Dao-D’Angelo wrote. “As a Canadian born, I have NEVER witnessed such appalling derogatory behaviour towards someone of Chinese ancestry.”
Dao-D’Angelo claims the alleged confrontation began when the couple became “impatient” while waiting to park beside her vehicle, despite there being other available spots in the lot. She alleges they “hit” her with their car and then hurled an obscene racist comment her way, at which point she decided to start filming so she could capture their license plate number.
In a short, 11-second video she posted to social media, now viewed about 170,000 times, the woman in question appears to strike Dao-D’Angelo on her left side shortly after she begins filming. The woman and her husband then back away as they make seemingly derogatory slurs aimed at people of Chinese ancestry.
“The most offensive part is that this all happened as I had baby with me!” Dao D’Angelo wrote on Facebook.
Global News has reached out to Dao-D’Angelo for an interview. It’s not clear whether the incident occurred on the same day Dao-D’Angelo posted her message and video to social media. She wrote that she did not capture the couple hitting her with their car on camera.
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A spokesperson for the Ottawa Police Service confirmed on Thursday morning that investigators are handling Dao-D’Angelo’s complaint.
“We’re aware and looking into it,” Const. Chuck Benoit told Global News.
Benoit said police investigate every complaint they receive. Right now, general assignment investigators are handling the file, he said.
Benoit would not confirm where the incident occurred – but the parking lot’s surroundings suggest this might have occurred outside the Giant Tiger on Merivale Road in Nepean.
In her Facebook post, Dao-D’Angelo thanked the Ottawa police for how they dealt with her complaint. She wrote that they responded to her call “within 20 minutes.” Benoit confirmed officers have met with Dao-D’Angelo in person as well.
Of the couple’s alleged behaviour, Dao-D’Angelo wrote: “I hope they will NEVER have the opportunity to do this to someone else whether they be from Asian or a different descent.”
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