Richmond RCMP still looking for suspect in drive-thru anti-Asian tirade

RICHMOND (NEWS 1130) – Richmond RCMP have released a picture of a man accused of going on an anti-Asian tirade as officers still work to identify the suspect.

It happened May 1 at the Burger King drive-thru on Steveston Highway.

The suspect was seen standing near the drive-thru window, yelling at a family in an SUV. A man who was in a car farther back in the drive-thru line previously said that when he told the suspect to leave, the suspect began hurling anti-Asian slurs at him.

Richmond RCMP have released a picture of a man accused of going on an anti-Asian tirade as officers still work to identify the suspect. https://t.co/IpHoT2KSFt #RichmondBC #Richmond pic.twitter.com/JTyYOaY7Zm

— CityNews 1130 Vancouver (Inactive) (@news1130) May 14, 2021

NEWS 1130 spoke to the man who intervened, three days after the hate incident.

“I heard ‘China virus,’ I heard ‘Get out of the country. And I heard, ‘Because of you, the world’s like this,” Benjamin Wong, the man who intervened, told NEWS 1130 in regards to what the man was yelling at the family in the SUV.

When Wong yelled at the suspect,  the man reportedly walked up to Wong’s car, referencing his race and even threatening his life.

“At one point, he said, ‘Chinese mother f—–. After that, he said, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ Right after that, I pulled out my phone and he changed his tone. He pretended to be nice,” Wong told NEWS 1130.

At the time, Richmond RCMP said it was investigating and that officers were working to identify and locate the suspect. Now, more than a week later, Mounties have released a picture of the suspect in hopes someone will recognize him.

“Investigators only learned of the incident two days later, after video began circulating on social media. As a result, police were unable to locate the man, identify him, and speak to him immediately,” a statement released on Thursday says.

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• Report names Vancouver ‘anti-Asian hate crime capital of North America’

• Vancouver police’s anti-Asian crime reporting system flawed, says lawyer

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“We need people to call us immediately, before posting video of hate crimes or hate incidents on line. In order to conduct a fulsome investigation, we need the best evidence available, which means we need the raw, unaltered video, and we need it quickly so we can identify and locate the suspect quickly,” added Cpl. Ian Henderson.

The picture released by Mounties is a screenshot from cellphone footage taken by Wong during a part of his interaction with the suspect. Wong also captured some of the anti-Asian tirade with his dashcam.

.@RichmondRCMP ramping up efforts to identify man accused of going on an anti-Asian tirade in a drive-thru, publicly releasing picture of suspect. Mounties claim delay in investigation b/c incident not reported right away. Previous @NEWS1130 story: https://t.co/2v0DFlWjTa https://t.co/YZxluUdpPx

— Monika Gul (@MonikaGul) May 13, 2021

Wong says the day the hate incident happened, he reported it to the province’s new Hate Crimes hotline (1-855-462-5733) and also made social media posts about the interaction. Two days after reporting it to the hotline, he got a reply telling him to report it to the local police department if a criminal offence occurred. That’s when Wong notified Richmond RCMP.

“I’ve heard stories of people being a racist in the news, but I didn’t believe [it was] that common,” Wong told NEWS 1130.

“Until that day, I didn’t experience it myself. It was shocking.”