Man in wheelchair goes on racist rant in airport

May 24, 2017

A man in a wheelchair was caught on video going on a racist rant against a man speaking Spanish at an airport in Reno, Nevada.

Hector Torres, who is bilingual, said that he was talking to his mother on the phone when the man, identified as “Mike” in the video, approached him and launched into a tirade filled with profanities and racist slurs. At one point, “Mike” even seemed to physically assault Torres, though Torres did not press charges when the authorities arrived.

The airport has since said in a statement that they are investigating the incident.

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Upon being notified of the situation, Airport Police responded to the gate area on Concourse C within two minutes of being dispatched and spoke to both passengers involved as well as witnesses. The passenger who was the target of the discriminatory comments made a video of the incident, but when police arrived, he declined to press charges. The passenger who filmed the incident continued on his flight and the other passenger and his family did not fly that day.

“The security, safety and customer experience of all of our guests will always be our highest priority,” Marily Mora, President and CEO of the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority said. “The airport will be attempting to reach out to the passenger who made the video of the altercation to express our sincere apologies and support in the wake of the incident. We will also be conducting a thorough investigation into the events of that evening.”

“The Airport Authority is deeply saddened to see this type of situation occur at our airport. Every passenger, regardless of race, religion, the language they speak, nation of origin, sexual orientation, age or political belief is welcome at Reno-Tahoe International Airport,”

Check out camera phone footage from the incident below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70A6zDv_wC0