3 charged in B.C. with attack on black man

COURTENAY, British Columbia, July 7 (UPI) -- Three men have been charged with an allegedly racially motivated assault in western Canada caught on video and posted on the Internet, police said Tuesday.

The victim, Jay Phillips, 38, was ambushed in a parking lot in Courtenay on Vancouver Island last Friday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Phillips, who is black, said he did nothing to provoke his assailants.

A video of the assault and of Phillips fending off the attackers was posted on YouTube.

The suspects are all between the ages of 18 and 25, police said. They were released pending a court appearance.

Phillips told the CBC that members of racial minorities in Courtenay, a small city on the west coast of the island, are subject to verbal harassment daily. He said the men who assaulted him used racial epithets.

"That's a hate crime to me, and I want them prosecuted to the max," he said.

Inspector Tom Gray of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the attack is being treated as an isolated incident at the moment. He said the three suspects do not appear to be part of any organized white supremacist group.