‘Racist’ hiker ‘tells US tourist to go back to her own country’ in a heated confrontation after he cut in front of her at a national park in Canada
- Victoria, who immigrated from Russia more than 20 years ago, still has an accent
- She recorded the man after he allegedly told her to go back to her own country
- Man saw her recording and lunged after her phone, threatening to throw it away
- Canadian police have identified the people involved are currently investigating
A shocked American tourist recorded the moment a fellow hiker lunged for her phone after, she claimed, he told her ‘go back to your own country’.
Victoria, who didn’t want to give her surname, recorded the confrontation between her, the man and his friends at the Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.
She said it started when the man cut in front of families waiting to see the waterfalls in Johnston Canyon.
Victoria asked him why he cut in, which led to a heated confrontation that she claims ended when he told her to go back to ‘her own country’.
She currently lives in New York but said she immigrated to the US as a refugee from Russia 20 years ago and still has an accent.
The footage show the man striking Victoria’s phone and telling her: ‘If you don’t want me to throw your phone away – walk.’
Canadian police have identified the people involved in the confrontation and are investigating.
Victoria recorded the man as he threatened to throw her phone away, before walking off
However, she said the racist comments have only started in recent years.
She wrote on Twitter: ‘I was just assaulted by a man who first told me to go back to my own country, at Banff National Park.
‘But I think it would be good if it goes viral. These people don’t get to win.’
In the video, Victoria asks the man if he was telling her to go back to her own country.
In response, the man, wearing a black bandana and Harley Davidson shirt, tells her: ‘If you don’t want me to throw your phone away – walk.’
He then appears to try and grab her phone and asks, ‘Is that what you wanted?’
One of the man’s companions abused Victoria before they warned her she was ‘pushing limits’
As he and the people with him walk past her, one tells Victoria: ‘You’re pushing limits you don’t want to push.’
Speaking to CTVNews.ca, Victoria said: ‘It was really quick. He didn’t hit me but he tried to push me and take my phone … but I stood my ground.’
Victoria said she’d called the man rude because he’d cut in.
He told her to mind her own business but, as Victoria was making her way down the only path to the parking lot, she spotted the man’s group and told them about how rude he’d been.
That sparked the confrontation that ended in her being abused, she said.
She said she recorded the confrontation because she was ‘half afraid’ they’d ‘do something’.
Victoria added: ‘I really just want the justice system to deal with him. And whatever happens, at least it’ll be on his record.’