NORTH VANCOUVER -- Warning: This story contains language some readers may find offensive.
A young woman filmed the moment she was kicked by another shopper inside a grocery store in North Vancouver.
Rina Moon says she’s still shaken after the interaction inside the Loblaws City Market store on Lonsdale Avenue Friday afternoon. She says it started in the produce section while she was on the phone to a friend.
“There was this lady in the produce section and from a distance she says, ‘Stop talking so loud, you’re spreading the virus,’” Moon told CTV News. “It seemed like she was walking away and then she came back and she said something, but I wasn’t listening to what she was saying, but she was like, ‘You’re a fucking bitch.’”
The two women parted ways from there, but eventually met again in the aisle with toilet paper and condiments.
“I asked her a couple of times,” Moon said, describing what happened next. “I said, ‘Excuse me, could you just let me through? Excuse me, if you could just move your cart.’ She started to step towards me and that’s when I thought, ‘OK, something might happen.’”
That was the moment Moon started filming on her phone.
“She stepped towards me and kicked my ankle and that’s when I was just like, ‘This is crazy.’”
Moon alerted store management and also called police.
“We received a complaint about an altercation that took place in the Loblaws in North Vancouver,” North Vancouver RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Peter DeVries said in an interview. “It was a dispute between two shoppers. We conducted the investigation. She ultimately decided she did not want to file any assault charges and the issue was ultimately resolved.”
Loblaws said it couldn’t comment on this situation in particular, but issued as statement saying:
“No level of abuse will be tolerated against our colleagues or customers. We understand that tensions are high at the moment, but for the most part customers have been respectful of one another and our colleagues. We have put a number of measures in place to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone in our stores and ask that customers do their part and adhere to the new protocols.”
North Vancouver RCMP say they haven’t seen a spike in incidents like this since the pandemic started, but DeVries offered this advice: “If you see someone who might be getting angry or might be trying to provoke a confrontation, just leave.”
