Man arrested after yelling racial slurs at Montreal couple, threatening CTV journalist

A man who was videotaped hurling racial slurs toward a Montreal couple and then intimidating a CTV Montreal journalist who was covering the story in LaSalle last month has been arrested.

Montreal police say they arrested the suspect Thursday morning and that the case has been referred to Quebec's prosecution office, the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP), for review.

The man has not been formally charged.

The incident happened on Aug. 11 and was captured on cellphone video, in which the man can be heard yelling in French at his neighbours Nadisha Hosein and her husband, Pramit Patel, telling them to, "Go back to India or Pakistan, get out of here!"

Montreal man hurls racial slurs

He also yelled at the couple for speaking English, while their daughter was in their car.

Hosein and Patel were both born and raised in the Montreal area and speak French fluently.

"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.

'IT'S NOT RIGHT'

Hosein said Thursday she was "relieved" that the man was arrested and that authorities ordered him to abide by a restraining order.

"I was thankful that the detective actually followed through with all of their interviews and their investigative work," she said in an interview.

The man was released from custody and is due back in court in November.

In light of the arrest, she said she feels more at ease when leaving the home and hopes that anyone else who is at the receiving of racial slurs to contact the police.

"Nobody should be spoken to in that way, in that tone, and in that manner, to fear for their safety. It's not right," she said.

The same man was also involved in a confrontation with CTV Montreal journalist Stephane Giroux, who was covering the story on the couple's street on Aug. 16.

The man aggressively approached CTV journalist Stephane Giroux, who was reporting on the incident.

The man denied he was racist and said there were two sides to the story, but wouldn't provide his version. 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 down and continuing his verbal tirade.

The man launching a verbal tirade and made threatening gestures at CTV reporter Stephane Giroux.

Montreal police said both the hate incident and the "assault on a citizen" case have been sent to the DPCP.

Hosein was shaken by the confrontation and attributed it in part to the current political climate in Quebec, which is still grappling with the effects of the province's new language law, Bill 96, and the recent adoption of Bill 21, which bans the wearing of religious symbols by certain public servants.

"It's the first time my husband and I have experienced racism the whole time we've been living here," she said in an interview last month. "Premier François Legault said he was against multiculturalism [and] he has a big following. And maybe this man was one of them."