Toronto man who yelled racist insults at Muslim family now charged with assault, threatening death

A 50-year-old man, caught on video hurling racist insults at a Muslim family along the city's waterfront earlier this week, has been charged with assault and threatening death following a Toronto police investigation. 

Investigators deemed the incident a hate-motivated crime and announced Friday they had laid charges against the Toronto man, a police news release said. 

Lombray Ball is charged with two counts of assault and one count of threatening death. He appeared in a Toronto court Friday morning.

Initially, police didn't arrest the man, launching an investigation into the incident instead. But by Thursday that changed, with police confirming the attack was hate-motivated, and charges were laid.

A viral cellphone video, viewed more than a million times on social media, captured the incident. 

It showed a heated exchange unfold outside Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. 

Late Monday afternoon, Hasan Ahmed watched the man berate and shove two men waiting to buy ferry tickets to Centre Island with their family.

Ahmed told CBC Toronto he immediately called police, but pulled out his cellphone to film the altercation while he waited for the officers to arrive.

"He was swearing, pushing people and telling this family to get out of the province," Ahmed, who was visiting Toronto for the first time with his wife and two children from Saskatoon, previously said.

The four-minute video shows the blond man, dressed in a red Hawaiian shirt, follow a Muslim family waiting in the queue. 

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Then, the situation escalated to verbal and physical threats when two men in the family asked the suspect to leave them alone. 

"I don't give a f--k. You don't tell me what to do in my province," the suspect screamed in response. "You don't ask me a f--king question.  It's my f--king province."