While making a delivery in the early hours on Wednesday, January 21, Phil Khan was approached, beaten and robbed by three men. The three assailants turned out to be police officers. The incident began when one police officer had asked Khan for directions to Broadway and Cambie. Smelling alcohol on him, Khan attempted to be calm and cooperative, yet, the cop grabbed Khan and proceeded to beat him. Around 5-7 minutes later, two other men had joined in on the beating of the 47-year old delivery man.
Besides suffering a heinous beating, he was also robbed of $200. When Khan asked for help, the police officers said, “We are the police, you don’t need help. If you don’t behave, if you don’t do anything, we have a Taser.” Perhaps the most shocking thing about this incident is that the attack may have been racially motivated as Khan recalled one of his attackers saying, “we don’t like brown people.”
So far, no charges have been laid on the three police officers but they have been either suspended or re-assigned to administrative duties. Last year, ACCO got a few comments from people that racism no longer exists in Vancouver because Asians are so well-integrated. This story however sheds light on the fact that racism is still prevalent in our multiethnic society especially since the crime was committed by people who were supposed to serve and protect us all regardless of our skin colour. For the full story, please go to: Surrey man says off-duty cops robbed, racially abused him.
