Houston: A Muslim family’s reunion in a Texas town turned ugly after a man at a beach allegedly hurled racial abuses and told them “Donald Trump will stop you”.
14 members of the family were on a week-long reunion in South Padre Island when the man, who was identified as Alexander Downing, of Waterford, Connecticut, approached them at a beach.
Downing was recorded in a viral video screaming obscenities and phrases like, “Donald Trump will stop you,” to the Muslim family on the beach, San Antonio Express-News reported.
He was arrested last week and was charged with public intoxication.
Police determined Downing “was intoxicated in a public place and was a danger to himself and others,” according to the South Padre Island Police Department incident report.
A video posted on YouTube by Noria, whose family asked their last names not be used for safety reasons, described in detail the moments before Downing was arrested.
Downing approached Noria and her family and yelled multiple expletives at the family. “You will never ever, ever, ever stop me,” he tells the family.
“My Christianity will rise above your Sharia law. Guess what? ISIS don’t mean (expletive) to me…” Noria said in the video’s description that two women asked her father for help as a man was harassing them. Her father approached Downings and asked him to let everyone enjoy the beach. Downings walked away but eventually came back and began yelling at the family.
“You’re a (expletive) Muslim,” he said. Noria was quoted as saying that she was in town for a family reunion.
Ahmed, another family member, said the family shared the footage to get Downings charged with indecent exposure, as he made several explicit gestures toward the family which included children between the ages of 2 and 4.
“First and foremost, we are Americans who happened to be Muslims. Never have I ever experienced such a thing. We did not do anything to provoke him,” Ahmed was quoted as saying. The incident comes amid a series of intimidation and expletive-laden rants targeting Muslims being reported from across the country.
PTI