Thien Ly, a Vietnamese man, was called 'pedophile' and subjected to abusive racial rant by an unidentified man who was offended by a child's dinosaur flag placed outside his home. The incident which took place in San Joe was captured on Ly's surveillance camera.
The outbreak of the global pandemic Covid-19, which was first reported in the Wuhan province of China in 2019, has led to a rise of several incidents of racist abuse against the Asians.
Racist Man Calls Victim Weirdo, Creep
The incident took place when Ly was taking his 3-year-old and 20-month-old kids to the park. The video shows a silver-colored car driving by when suddenly the driver comes to a halt in the middle of the road.
"What flag is this?" he asks Ly while referring to the huge black and yellow colored dinosaur flag belonging to Ly's 3-year-old son. Ly had hung it outside his garage in the house.
Speaking to ABC 7, Ly said that he misheard the man and thought he was enquiring about his bicycle which comes with a child seat. "In my mind he's asking about the bike which is a Taga bike," Ly said.
However, the reply appeared to have instigated the man who is then seen coming out of his car and approaching Ly's house. "Is that a Filipino thing?" he is heard asking Ly.
The victim told the outlet that it was at this point when he thought the man was mistaken with the brand of the bicycle, Taga with Tagalog, a language spoken in the Philippines.
"What's your favorite charity homie? What's your favorite charity?" the man is heard asking Ly as he continues to pace around Ly's cars.
Getting agitated, the man then goes on shout, "I'm sure your marriage is going so well...you're a weirdo, a creep. A pedophile creep," he says.
Man Returned to Damage Victim's Car
Not done with his outburst, the abusive man shouts at Ly saying, "Can't you answer my simple f**king question?" At this point Ly asks the man to stop using abusive language in front of his kids and leave the premise.
However, before leaving the man threatened Ly that he will return and speak to his wife. "He came back and he smashed both of my cars with weights," Ly told the outlet. He also showed the 2.5-pound circular weight which was allegedly used to damage the car. It was found by the victim lying between the kid's car seats in the back row of the damaged car.
While the San Jose police confirmed that the man did return a few hours later to damage the car, it said the incident doesn't appear to be hate-motivated.
However, the outlet stated that Ly believes that he was targeted because of his race. "At first he thought I was Filipino because I can pass for Filipino, but I'm actually Vietnamese," said Ly.
"Whoever this person is I hope they get caught so this doesn't happen to anyone else. I want to shine light on this and make sure it's safe for everyone and safe for my kids growing up in this neighborhood," said Ly.
