The Port Alberni RCMP are asking for help identifying a person who urinated on the floor and counter of the Dairy Queen fast food restaurant after being refused service because he wasn’t wearing a mask.
On Friday, Aug. 27 around 9 p.m. the RCMP received a call about a disturbance at the eatery on Third Avenue. The complainant said an unknown man had been arguing with staff at the front counter over not wearing a mask. The man was asked to leave and became verbally aggressive and abusive.
“The suspect initially left the business only to return shortly after,” BC RCMP Media Relations Officer Sgt. Chris Manseau said. “He pulled down his pants and began to urinate on the floor directly in front of the till, much to the shock and screams of staff and the customers.
The man left the business before he could be apprehended, and the RCMP have released a photo of him in the hopes someone will identify him.
“His actions are being investigated as an indecent act, as it appears that he willfully performed this act with the intent to insult or offend in a public place,” Manseau added.
Police urge anyone with information regarding this incident, or if you can identify this suspect to call the Port Alberni RCMP at (250) 723-2424.
As of Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021 B.C.’s provincial health officer mandated that masks must be worn in all indoor public spaces throughout the province to help slow the transmission of COVID-19 including in restaurants, pubs and bars unless seated.
Graham Hughes, who posted the now viral video on Facebook on behalf of a friend, said the man’s actions are a symptom of the times. “It does highlight the growing division that’s taking place in our community, the polarization of opinions and the entitlement and reaction.”
Hughes said he has been contacted by media from all over North America, and that his video has gone international.
“It’s sad, in a sense. In a COVID world, even on overdose prevention awareness day there are bigger things happening in the community. People who often make these stories with their extreme behaviour do have experiences with mental health issues, they do have substance use issues, they live in a paranoid state.”
He blamed COVID-19 burnout and a lack of respect for marginalized populations for the extreme reaction, but said it shouldn’t replace a sense of dignity.
“We all have a part that we play in how our community (is) treated and how people are treated,” Hughes said. “We’ve had mask mandates, we’ve had lock-downs, now we have vaccine passports, but none of these things have taken away our ability to be kind to each other.
“Nothing has taken away our ability to have respect or just treat one another with dignity.”
