Natick Stop & Shop Shopper: Man Launched Racist Tirade

NATICK, MA — A Stop & Shop shopper said a man recently harassed her about her nationality and immigration status, prompting a police investigation.

Jazmin de Moreta described the encounter in a Facebook post published Wednesday evening. She said the man claimed she was holding up the line at the Worcester Road supermarket and accused her of being an illegal immigrant, she said.

"Yes, he had the audacity to say I need to back to my country, Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory," the post reads. "When I spoke back he said that I don’t speak like an American."

The man shoved his cart into de Moreta's caregiver, she said in the post. He called police but left before they arrived, the post said.

"At that point I advise his picture is going on the internet," her post continued. "And he too wanted to take my picture after trying to push his cart again."

Natick police Sgt. Allan Graham Jr. confirmed Thursday morning the department is investigating the encounter.

There have been a number of recent racially-tinged incidents across Massachusetts, coinciding with protests over police brutality and racial injustice.

In Groveland, a Black woman was followed by a white man after she went to pick up a bag of dog food from a neighbor's porch. In a video, the man tells her that he didn't feel safe with her in his neighborhood. A lawyer from Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights this week said that a Black mother and her children were harassed at a gas station in Worcester.

Back in February, a mother and daughter were targeted outside an East Boston subway station because they were speaking Spanish. Two women were arrested and charged in that case.