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"That’s why we’re wearing these masks,” the man reportedly yelled, bringing police to the Rock Road store.
He yelled this several times, said the woman, who “felt threatened [because] she was the only Asian individual in the immediate area,” Police Chief Dean Ackermann said.
A witness corroborated her account, he added.
Interviewed by police, the man said that he “was upset about having to wear a mask and was just stating his personal opinion, which was not intended to be directed towards anyone in particular,” the chief said.
After consulting the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, police classified the encounter as a bias incident.
It didn’t rise to the level of a chargeable offense, they were told, because the man didn’t appear to be “personally or physically threatening.”
Officers advised the woman of her right to pursue a personal complaint against him, Ackermann said.
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