Man accused of hurling racial slurs at couple, assaulting CTV reporter facing charges

Criminal charges have been laid against a LaSalle man accused of hurling racial slurs against a couple and assaulting a CTV News reporter who later reported on the incident.

Richard Maréchal, 68, is facing charges of causing a disturbance, assault, and uttering threats in connection with the two incidents in the Montreal borough last August. The charges come after Montreal police arrested him on Sept. 29 and referred the case to Quebec's Crown prosecutor's office for review. 

Nadisha Hosein said she was pulling out of her driveway on Aug. 11 with her husband, Pramit Patel, and their eight-year-old daughter when a pedestrian came out of nowhere behind her.

"When I saw him, I thought I'll just wait until he passes, and I'll continue reversing," she said in an interview with CTV at the time.

The man, however, started berating her and her family, yelling racist slurs, she said.

"Go back to India or Pakistan, get out of here!" the man in his 50s yelled in French as a neighbour captured part of the exchange on camera.

He also yelled at the two for speaking English.

Patel and Hosein were both born and raised in the Montreal area and are fluent in French.

"He told me to go home, so I thought, maybe he wants me to cross the bridge and return to Chateauguay where I was born," said Hosein.

Neighbours told CTV that the man often walks in the neighbourhood. On Aug. 16, CTV News found the man, who denied he was racist and said there were two sides to the story.

He then physically tried to assault CTV reporter Stéphane Giroux when pressed for comments. When asked a question on camera, the man approached Giroux aggressively and was filmed clenching his fist and pulling it back in a punching gesture toward Giroux, before dropping it and continuing his verbal tirade.

"This is my home," he said while walking away and saying that the bilingual couple had a duty to speak French.

Maréchal is scheduled to return to court for his next appearance in January.