Racist man arrested after spitting at Asian woman

A man identified as Justin Williams was charged with assault after he committed racial hate crimes in Calgary, Canada. The man was brought to justice after a couple accidentally caught him on video spitting at and abusing one of his victims, Jessica Lau. After being arrested for the attack on Lau, it was revealed that Williams had attacked at least two more people and threatened a bystander who tried to stop him. His former employers, the University of Calgary, distanced themselves from Williams. It is speculated that more people were targeted by the hateful man.

Lau, a 27-year-old resident of Calgary was skateboarding in Inglewood on Saturday, July 18 at around 8 pm local time. Her partner was filming their day out and was right behind Lau when she was attacked. Lau's partner recorded a man on a bicycle coming towards them from the opposite side of the pathway. As the couple crossed paths with the man, he spat at Lau and called her a racial slur used against people of Chinese origin.

Lau was too shocked to realise what had happened. The culprit's spit had landed on Lau's face and arms. She recalled that she had to replay the video to understand what she had been subjected to. The video of the incident went viral after it was uploaded on social media.

Over the weekend, Calgary Police Service investigated the incident. On Monday, the police confirmed that Williams was the perpetrator and he had been charged with assault. In their written statement, police revealed that Williams had been charged with three counts of assault for spitting at and using racial slurs against three separate victims. According to CBC, Williams was also charged with possession of a weapon which he used to threaten a witness.

Williams was a former employee of University of Calgary. However, the university made it clear that Williams had not been employed there since February. The university even shared all social media comments made by Williams with the police to help the investigation.

While Williams has been charged with three counts of assault, he may have targeted more people.

Olympic wrestling champion, Erica Wiebe, revealed that she also faced a similar attack at a bike path near Memorial Drive. She did not confirm that her attacker was William but speculated that it could have been him.