A Burnaby man is speaking out about how the Metrotown area of the city has become is “going downhill fast” after someone shoved him aside while screaming obscenities.
The incident happened Friday, according to Tony (the NOW has agreed to keep his last name private), on Beresford Street, just west of the Metrotown SkyTrain station.
“It wasn’t an accident,” Tony said. “He suddenly swerved into my path and shoved me aside and started screaming for me to ‘go f*** myself’ and he kept going. I managed to keep my balance and was just in shock. I didn’t even get a look at him. I see more of these folks every day in my neighbourhood, which is going downhill fast.”
Tony thinks the man suffers from a mental illness and so he decided to not call police, but the incident left him shaken and more nervous about walking in this area.
This is just the latest in a series of disturbing incidents in the Metrotown area.
In October 2020, the NOW wrote about a man who had hot coffee poured over his head near the corner of Willingdon Avenue and Kingsway.
“I got my order and walked out of the gas station and proceeded to walk on Kingsway towards the Willingdon intersection,” Mike told the NOW at the time. “All of a sudden, I felt hot liquid on my head, then my face, back, shirt and hoodie I was wearing, and sweat pants became soaked. It became apparent to me that someone poured coffee right over my head from behind. I turned around and saw this man.”
The incident was reported to the RCMP.
“I am not sure if this person was emotionally unstable or not, but the fact is no one should be doing things like this,” Mike said. “My concerns about this is that I feel as a Burnaby resident from Metrotown that this area is getting increasingly unsafe. In light of the recent incidents around here, I feel like it's important for the public to know this and to be vigilant. I can imagine if this happened to someone who doesn't speak English or senior, this could be devastating and they wouldn't know what to do. I just thought I would share this to increase awareness.”
And in late September 2020, Burnaby RCMP reported an incident near the Metrotown SkyTrain station in which a man was racially taunted by three people – who shouted “go back to your own country” and then had hot coffee poured over his head.
"Discrimination in any form has no place in our wonderfully diverse city," Cpl. Mike Kalanj with Burnaby RCMP said in a news release at the time. "While we are thankful that the victim was not physically injured, we are mindful of the long-lasting effects that incidents like this one can have on those being targeted, so it is hugely important that we identify these suspects quickly."
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
