A 57-year-old man accused of hurling racist and misogynist abuse at staff at a Vancouver Tim Hortons in June has been criminally charged.
The incident unfolded on June 11, at the chain’s West Pender and Abbott Street location.
The tirade, levelled at a South Asian employee, was captured on camera by a customer in the café.
In the video the man, who is white, can be heard swearing at the woman, yelling at her to be “quiet” to “do what you’re told” and calling her “scum.”
“We decide what happens in this part of Canada, not you,” he can be heard saying. “This part of Canada is run by men like me.”
The worker tells him to leave, but the man goes on to make other racist and sexist comments directed at female employees.
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The person who shot the video said they feared for their safety and asked not to be identified.
They said when the woman working the counter responded to one of the man’s jibes the man grew upset and asked for his money back. The worker offered him his money back, but he became aggressive and began hurling racist comments.
At one point, the witness said the worker would soon meet his girlfriend, who “doesn’t like mouthy little” people like her.
“To me it came across as a veiled threat and it just escalated from that point on,” said the customer.
Vancouver police said Friday that Peter Gagen has now been charged with causing a disturbance.
It’s not Gagen’s first run-in with the law over racist abuse.
In 2017, he pleaded guilty to assault and uttering threats after going on a racist tirade in 2016 towards a woman and her son at Vancouver ‘s City Hall SkyTrain station in another incident caught on camera.
Gagen then attacked and allegedly spat at a bystander who intervened. He was handed a three-month conditional sentence and 15 months probation in that incident.
He is due in court to face the charge on Oct. 31.
— with files from Elizabeth McSheffrey
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