EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA — Edmonton police are asking shoppers who witnessed or filmed an August 6 assault at a south Edmonton Walmart to come forward, three weeks after a Sikh truck driver from British Columbia says he was attacked by a man and woman who targeted him over his religious identity.
Talwinder Singh Atwal, a long-haul trucker who stopped at the Walmart on Tamarack Way during a work-related visit, says the couple began making comments about his religious clothes and identity as they passed him. He initially tried to ignore them but eventually asked what they wanted. The situation then turned physical.
“After that, he attacked me on my neck and pushed me away,” Atwal said. “And when he pushed me away and he punched me, and then suddenly on the left side, the female girl, she pushed me, and he pulled my beard.”
A video circulating on social media shows the end of the altercation with Atwal on the ground and his turban partially displaced. The suspects left before police arrived.
Atwal expressed frustration with the initial police response, saying an officer suggested he himself could potentially face charges. “I said, ‘He left. I am here,'” Atwal said.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada urged Edmonton police to take the investigation seriously. Edmonton Police Service confirmed its hate crimes unit is assisting with the investigation and said several shoppers witnessed and filmed the incident but left before officers arrived.
Anyone with information or video is asked to contact EPS at 780-423-4567 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Interviews courtesy of local media.
📸 Image(s) used under fair use for news reporting.
