Calgary family wants changes after video catches neighbour waving hatchets, shouting racial slurs.
Disturbing actions from a next-door neighbour have a Calgary family calling for action from police and policymakers.
“I just don’t want someone to get hurt, that’s all. I don’t want him to get hurt or he can hurt someone else,” said Joffrey De Villa.
When De Villa’s truck was vandalized outside his southeast Calgary home in October, his family installed security cameras, which months later captured video of their neighbour on their driveway holding hatchets and shouting racial slurs, then chopping into their planters.
De Villa called 911 but said the responding officer called it a mental-health incident and never followed up with them.
“It’s not too big of a value to me, but it’s an indication that he is trying to destroy or damage property or, worse, can hurt someone one day,” said De Villa.
On July 11, he called 911 again when video caught the same neighbour kicking De Villa’s garage while cursing.
He called 911 another time that night when the family woke to loud sounds and saw video showing the neighbour with hatchets outside their front door, once again cursing and shouting slurs.
“Oh, it was terrifying. Like I don’t really get scared, but that scares me,” said De Villa.
De Villa thinks the government needs better policy for mental-health matters.
He gave an officer his videos and days later got a text that they were still investigating.
CPS said it received four reports about disturbances, property damage and uttering threats in this case.
“While the behaviour is concerning to police, there is currently insufficient evidence to support criminal charges. Investigators continue to actively gather information, and should further evidence meet the threshold for charges, they will be laid accordingly,” said a statement from CPS.
Officers work closely with mental-health specialists.
“Once individuals are supported and addressed, these behaviours should be mitigated, but it’s tough. I do empathize with these situations,” said Sgt. Chris Warren.
But one legal expert says Calgary police need to step up in this case.
“When you have a neighbour standing in front of your front door with two hatchets, spewing racial epithets, that’s an offence in the Criminal Code of Canada,” said Doug King with MRU.
“Police are dealing with fire here. The police have got to up their game here.”
De Villa, his wife and their 15-year-old son have lived in the home for 12 years.
De Villa said they have previously had only pleasant interactions with the neighbour and understand there are mental-health issues, but he wants action—and not just for his family.
“I wish our leaders, politicians, (would) do something about it; there’s a lot going on like this right now. It’s a crisis,” said De Villa.
“There’s a mental issue involved; of course they need help. But us, too. We need help. We need peace of mind. I want my house to be my sanctuary.”
Instead, the family is frustrated and is considering moving even though they don’t want to leave.
“This is really home for me, so it’s kind of hard,” said De Villa.
De Villa said there is also no guarantee that another place couldn’t have the same issues.
Police say anyone in a similar situation should get away from the threatening person and into their home, take notes and video about what’s happening and call 911.
Legal experts say homeowners in situations like this could file complaints against police.
They could also get a restraining order for property damage concerns, but it can take months and could include legal fees.
Mount Laurel community says white neighbor’s racist rant is the tip of the iceberg
Edward Mathews’ racist rant against a Black neighbor, captured on viral video, has left a mark on what neighbors describe as a peaceful, multi-cultural community.
Two days after Edward Cagney Mathews was taken into custody by Mount Laurel police, other residents of the Essex Place Condominium community where he lives say they are breathing a sigh of relief.
However, Mathews’ racist rant against a Black neighbor, captured on bystander video that went viral over the weekend, and the subsequent protests outside his home have left a mark on what neighbors describe as a peaceful, multi-cultural community.
“It’s a friendly neighborhood,” said Adele Schiller, a longtime resident of Essex Place. Outside of Mathews, “people just let people do what they do.”
When WHYY News visited the neighborhood on Wednesday, one resident pointed towards the privacy fence where they said Mathews had written a racist message targeting the Black president of the condo association “RON IS A N****R.”
When Felicia Andrews, who lives near the fence, saw it, she said her reaction was “scatological.”
“Just one bad apple can make an entire neighborhood look like a bunch of knuckle-dragging jerks,” she said.
WHYY News spoke to four residents who said Mathews, who is white, has been a terror to people in his community, especially people of color: breaking windows, slashing tires, and painting obscene, offensive graffiti on cars. Two of them declined to give their names or speak on the record.
The residents said some of their neighbors had even installed security cameras to try and catch Mathews in the act.
One neighbor said she witnessed Mathews dump trash in the front of the unit next to where her family lives. Her husband helped to clean up the mess.
It all came to a head Monday when about 100 protesters showed up at his doorstep after the video was shared across the internet over the weekend. In the video from July 2, Mathews can be seen cursing and using racial slurs against one of his neighbors. Mathews also gave his address and said, “Come see me.”
Related Content
6ABC
Community protests after Mount Laurel man’s racist rant caught on video
Edward Cagney Mathews was escorted out of his home by Mt. Laurel police and then placed into custody.
5 years ago
That confrontation happened after Mathews knocked on a neighbor’s door demanding to see her husband and attempted to enter her home, prosecutors said. The woman, who is white, called police and another neighbor, Etchu Tanyoh Brandon Tambe, came over to find Mathews in the walkway.
Tambe, the Black man subjected to Mathews’ rant, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he had gone to his neighbors’ home to help them when he saw Mathews bothering them.
“I felt I was being treated as someone who is second-class, someone who is not a true American, and pretty much my service to this country doesn’t matter,” said Tambe, who moved to the U.S. from Cameroon in 2017 and joined the Air Force. He became a U.S. citizen in 2019 and now works at McGuire Air Force Base.
Mathews was taken into custody on Monday evening. He remains in jail for now as he faces three counts of fourth-degree harassment, including bias crime with purpose to intimidate, two counts of harassment (disorderly persons), and one count of trespass. He is expected to make his first appearance in Superior Court on Friday.
Before his arrest on Monday, Mathews told several news outlets he was sorry and said he had been drunk at the time.
This is not his first run-in with the legal system. Electronic court records show Mathews has been convicted of various burglary, weapons, and drug possession charges going back to 1994 in Burlington, Camden, Monmouth, and Ocean counties. He was also convicted of armed robbery when he was 17.
Gary Zangerle, legal counsel for the condo association, said in response to Matthews’ behavior over the years, the board passed rules against harassment, especially harassing a board member, using vulgar language, and racial epithets. The fine was $500, the maximum allowed by state law. He said state laws governing condo associations did not envision a situation like the incident with Mathews.
“Most of the fines are like, if you let your dog defecate on somebody else’s property or you leave your trash out, things of that nature,” he said.
Mathews has been fined several times under the rules, according to Zangerle.
Related Content
Second member of white Fishtown vigilante group charged with assault
Philly police have arrested Richard Goodwin for allegedly assaulting a man during a violent gathering of mostly white men in Fishtown amid last June’s protests.
5 years ago
Another resident, Jazmyn Suszynski said in a Facebook post that Mathews harassed her when she lived at Essex Place, and shared a video in which Mathews can be heard telling a woman, “You’re not going to get any help from the cops because they’re my people.” The post also includes harassing messages and a picture of her car vandalized.
Zangerle said Mount Laurel Police were responsive to previous complaints about Mathews, but did not pursue charges because they said they lacked evidence — which Zangerle found frustrating, as did many of the protesters on Monday.
The Mount Laurel Police Department said in a Facebook post that it does not tolerate hate or bias intimidation in any form.
“We can assure our residents that incidents like this are thoroughly investigated and that those who commit such offenses will be held accountable for their actions,” the department wrote.
The Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office announced it will launch an independent investigation into “any and all incidents” involving Mathews, as well as the police department’s handling of the July 2 incident officers were called to. They are seeking information from the public.
The Southern Burlington County NAACP has also begun to seek information from people who were victims of racial harassment or intimidation and were not happy with the response from the Mount Laurel Police Department.
In the meantime, Zangerle said it would be a lengthy process to legally remove Mathews from the community. But Andrews hopes that he will choose to move away on his own.
“If not, he could be a continuing irritant catalyst source of, well, more crap,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
