The man’s tirade was filmed and uploaded on YouTube by Noria Alward, a member of the same family being harassed. In the video, he can be seen approaching the family aggressively while intoxicated, screaming insults and threats. "You're a f***ing Muslim, motherf***er," he says while standing few feet away from kids. "You will never ever, ever, stop me, my Christianity," the man says, "from rising above your Sharia law. Your Sharia law don't mean shit to me."
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"Guess what? IS don't mean shit to me," he screams, circling around the group. "Donald Trump will stop you. Donald Trump will stop you! Donald Trump got you motherf***ers. Watch... watch."
"My country is the greatest country in the world," he said as he begins to thump his chest repeatedly with his fists. "Come f*** with Donald Trump. That's my mother f***ing president!"
The man can be seen getting arrested by the South Padre Island Police at the end of the video. After the family filed a report, the South Padre Island Police Department identified the man as Alexander Dowing of Waterford, Connecticut. Upon inquiry, the police told BuzzFeed that he was arrested after the responding officer "determined that he [Downing] was intoxicated in a public place and was a danger to himself and others."
In an email to the news site, a member of the family, Ahmed, said “when he [Dowing] called it his country. It is my country too.” Deciding to keep his last name anonymous due to fear of harassment, Ahmed added that, "America is my country whether he likes it or not."
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"I want people to understand that this man needs to be charged with indecent behaviour in front of kids and a minor," Ahmed said. He emphasised that the individual "doesn't represent the masses" but maintained that he "needs to be charged for what he's done."
Ahmed wrote he wanted "to thank all the beach-goers that stood by our side,” with a special mention to a man in the video to tried to ease the situation. “Hats off to him,” he said.
Ahmed said he wanted the world to know that the “hotel did not do anything to protect us.” While the hotel informed Ahmed and his family that the man would be evicted from the hotel after his arrest, but was seen in the hotel lobby the very next day. “We will definitely go back to the beautiful island but will never go back to the Pearl Hotel," Ahmed said.
Warning: Video contains abusive language and content that may be disturbing to some of our readers. Please view with caution.
Meanwhile the manager at South Padre Pearl Hotel told BuzzFeed News that they remained unaware of the incident until Wednesday morning when the video was uploaded. "So we couldn't really have the full story except that the police arrested the guy and the next day the guy checked out. But we care about our guests, we care about whatever happens in our hotel. Unfortunately, this happened outside the hotel," said Abdel Zouari.
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