Video shows white man yelling racial slurs during an argument with a neighbor over their property lines
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Barrington man charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct for a property line dispute with his neighbor could get a harsher sentence if convicted after Attorney General Peter F. Neronha decided his actions were motivated by animus toward the victim’s racial identity.
Barrington police had charged Richard Gordon, 71, of Rumstick Drive, after he got into a fight Aug. 3 with his neighbor, Bahram Pahlavi, over the placement of a property marker by a surveyor hired by Pahlavi.
A Facebook video posted by Pahlavi’s wife, Iman Ali Pahlavi, shows a man cursing and using a racial slur.
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(Warning: In the video, vulgar language and a racial slur can be clearly heard.)
In the Facebook post, Pahlavi said she and her husband have been subjected to “microaggressions” since moving to Rumstick Drive three years ago, with neighbors walking through their yard and parking in their driveway. She said her husband was replacing the property marker, which had been pulled up, when “one of my neighbors jumped my husband calling him the N word.”
Gordon could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, members of Black Lives Matter Rhode Island plan to protest in Barrington this afternoon to call for hate crime charges to be filed against Gordon.
“We are going to make our voices heard,” said Mark Fisher, senior director of Black Lives Matter Rhode Island. “In no uncertain terms, we will respond to the proposed question: Is it OK to act on your bigotry with impunity?”
It’s not clear if the protest will be held now that the attorney general has acted.
In his order, Neronha said that his office’s investigation led them to conclude that Gordon “intentionally selected” Pahlavi and his property because of Gordon’s “hatred or animus toward the actual or perceived religion, color, race, national origin, or ancestry” of Pahlavi.
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Rhode Island does not have a hate crimes law, but under the Hate Crimes Sentencing Act, prosecutors can notify the judge that they intend to ask for a more severe sentence based on what they believe is a defendant’s motivation in committing an alleged crime.
In her Facebook post, Imam Pahlavi wrote that Gordon “filed a false police report accusing my husband of attacking him.” But she said that, in the video, her husband can be heard saying “get off, get off” and that’s “assault.”
“I shudder to think what would have happened if we did not have the video,” Pahlavi wrote. “Privilege is real.”
In a statement, Barrington Police Chief Dino DeCrescenzo said officers responded to a 911 call about the dispute, and firefighters treated Gordon for an injury he received in the altercation. The video shows him with blood on his left arm.
DeCrescenzo said the officers heard conflicting stories about the dispute, and at first, couldn’t determine how the assault happened and who was the aggressor.
But the investigation continued throughout last week, and the police said they eventually obtained several videos that helped to determine the aggressor. The police obtained an arrest warrant for Gordon on Thursday and arrested him on Friday. Gordon entered a not guilty plea in District Court. There is a pretrial conference Sept. 11.
Fisher, of Black Lives Matter, said there is no doubt in his mind that the incident represents a hate crime.
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“Obviously, it was something that was despicable and it has to be condemned immediately,” he said. “It went viral for everyone to see.”
Fisher paraphrased actor Will Smith, who said: “Racism is not getting worse. It’s getting filmed.”
Barrington is a suburb of some 16,000 people, and 94 percent of the population is white, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.
In a joint statement, Barrington Town Council President Michael Carroll and Town Manager James J. Cunha said the town is “deeply troubled by the racial overtones” of the altercation on Rumstick Drive.
“This type of behavior is abhorrent and should not be tolerated anywhere,” they said. “It does not reflect who we are as a community, and it is not who we aspired to be.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com
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