Local family still shaken, but 'it feels like a closure':
A former volunteer firefighter from Stouffville has been charged with assault in the case of an alleged racist attack on a local family.
Father and son Bobby and Julian Ramdowar say they were accosted with racist comments then assaulted while they were out for a family celebration at a local eatery.
They say the attack in late August left the family traumatized, but Bobby says charges were laid on the weekend and now, “it feels like it’s a closure.”
Bobby, his wife and his son had walked to nearby Sgt. Peppers Pub & Grill to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
It was on his way back indoors after a cigarette that Julian, 26, said a customer, accompanied by two other men, directed a racist insult at him.
Bobby said he tried to explain to one of the men that they were hoping for a quiet family outing “and bam! Lights out.”
He said he was sucker punched to the face and when Julian tried to protect his father, and then his mother, all three ended up in the attack.
Since he went public with the incident, Bobby said, he has been comforted by the strength of community support from his workplace “and from people I don’t even know. It’s a little embarrassing, I have to admit, to have my picture in the paper and getting noticed, like when I go into the grocery store.”
He says his family is more cautious now and his wife continues to struggle with anxiety and PTSD.
“I don’t see us going out as a family for a while,” he said. “I’m getting better but to be honest is still scares the sh - - out of me, coming home at night.”
He said he has installed cameras around his house.
“I never thought I’d have to live like that. I love Stouffville. There’s so much good people here. We’ve never experienced racism from anyone else here, never. I’m just shocked that we were unlucky enough to meet that one person.”
Michael Campisi, 31, is set to appear next in court Nov. 23 at 10:30 a.m.
Campisi's LinkedIn account describes him as a Whitchurch-Stouffville firefighter for "seven years and seven months ... from April 2011 to present," however town spokesperson Glenn Jackson said Campisi left his role with the town in 2017.
https://www.yorkregion.com/news-sto...firefighter-charged-in-alleged-racist-attack/
A former volunteer firefighter from Stouffville has been charged with assault in the case of an alleged racist attack on a local family.
Father and son Bobby and Julian Ramdowar say they were accosted with racist comments then assaulted while they were out for a family celebration at a local eatery.
They say the attack in late August left the family traumatized, but Bobby says charges were laid on the weekend and now, “it feels like it’s a closure.”
Bobby, his wife and his son had walked to nearby Sgt. Peppers Pub & Grill to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
It was on his way back indoors after a cigarette that Julian, 26, said a customer, accompanied by two other men, directed a racist insult at him.
Bobby said he tried to explain to one of the men that they were hoping for a quiet family outing “and bam! Lights out.”
He said he was sucker punched to the face and when Julian tried to protect his father, and then his mother, all three ended up in the attack.
Since he went public with the incident, Bobby said, he has been comforted by the strength of community support from his workplace “and from people I don’t even know. It’s a little embarrassing, I have to admit, to have my picture in the paper and getting noticed, like when I go into the grocery store.”
He says his family is more cautious now and his wife continues to struggle with anxiety and PTSD.
“I don’t see us going out as a family for a while,” he said. “I’m getting better but to be honest is still scares the sh - - out of me, coming home at night.”
He said he has installed cameras around his house.
“I never thought I’d have to live like that. I love Stouffville. There’s so much good people here. We’ve never experienced racism from anyone else here, never. I’m just shocked that we were unlucky enough to meet that one person.”
Michael Campisi, 31, is set to appear next in court Nov. 23 at 10:30 a.m.
Campisi's LinkedIn account describes him as a Whitchurch-Stouffville firefighter for "seven years and seven months ... from April 2011 to present," however town spokesperson Glenn Jackson said Campisi left his role with the town in 2017.
https://www.yorkregion.com/news-sto...firefighter-charged-in-alleged-racist-attack/
