Man arrested over racial slurs directed at AT&T employee

Thursday, April 18, 2019
Racist rant at AT&T store ends in arrest. | ABC13's Steven Romo reports

FRIENDSWOOD, Texas -- Racist videos are extremely disappointing to see, but these days they're popping up all over the place. A recent one comes to a bit of a more satisfying conclusion for the victim when a police officer makes a cameo at the end.

Cell phone video shows a man identified as Joey Christian yelling at a worker at an AT&T store in Friendswood.

"He came in loud and yelling already," store employee Mo said.

Christian was demanding to speak to a manager because the victim, Mo, asked to see an ID for a credit check. Then, things got much worse.

After Christian disparaged Mo for being a minority, a customer recording the incident confronted him.

"I really don't give a **** about some peon Arab who actually doesn't even belong here," Christian said. "People like this are the reason our country is going to what it's going to. Cause I been killing his kind for longer than you've probably been alive."

"I kept my cool and tried to be as calm as I could," Mo said.

He asked ABC13 not to use his last name. He says he's seen racism before, so he wasn't all that surprised. But he was grateful for the customer who helped.

"That lady was a blessing. She called the cops, she gave me the video, and without her, I think he would have got away free."

The customer stalled and kept Christian talking, because she had a surprise of her own.

"We were in line first. We were actually trying to get service," the customer said.

"Oh, sweetie, you're fine. I thought you worked here," Christian said.

"Uh, ok. And I called the police," the customer said.

"That's fine. Yeah, it is fine," Christian said, as he exited the store and came face to face with an officer.

Christian was arrested for charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

Mo says he hopes some good can come from this.

"I hope people realize they can't come out like that and have that kind of anger, and that kind of tone with people," he said.

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