{"id":168671,"date":"2021-03-29T07:17:40","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T14:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=168671"},"modified":"2021-03-29T10:55:21","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T17:55:21","slug":"arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/","title":{"rendered":"Arkansas Casino Alleges Man Made Threats, Racist Comments to Asian American"},"content":{"rendered":"

Outrage is spreading over a violent confrontation at Arkansas\u2019 Oaklawn Casino, where a fire captain allegedly hurled racial insults and threatened to kill an Asian American man earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\"Snodgrass
Fire Capt. Benjamin Snodgrass, left, and casino visitor Liem Nguyen, shown above. Snodgrass allegedly threatened and made racial comments toward Nguyen outside of Arkansas\u2019 Oaklawn Casino. (Images: Garland County jail, KATV<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eventually, Bentonville, Ark. Fire Captain Benjamin Snodgrass was arrested. Both he and Liem Nguyen suffered injuries in the March 13 struggle outside of the Hot Springs casino.<\/p>\n

During the confrontation, Nguyen said Snodgrass approached him while he waited for an Uber.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to kill you and kill your kind of people,\u201d<\/strong> Snodgrass reportedly told Nguyen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Snodgrass allegedly told him, \u201cYour kind of people is not supposed to be here,\u201d Nguyen said. Snodgrass then attached Nguyen. Nguyen fought back.<\/p>\n

He kept on pushing me, pushing me, grabbed me. So, I have to defend myself by hitting him,\u201d<\/strong> Nguyen said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When officers arrived, they noticed Snodgrass\u2019 eyes were bloodshot and watery. He also smelled like alcohol, according to a police report quoted by local media. Snodgrass appeared incoherent and complained of the situation in the casino.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know, man, they are pumping gasses into this place, and something is not right,” Snodgrass told an officer. When asked about the confrontation, Snodgrass replied, \u201cI don\u2019t know guys, I\u2019m hammered.\u201d This statement was recorded by police body cams.<\/p>\n

Snodgrass confirmed he confronted the Asian man about not being American. But he denied anything else took place.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Snodgrass had a bloody left earlobe, bloody lips, and redness on his knuckles, police said. Nguyen suffered a red mark below his left eye, a scratch on his right knee, and his shirt was ripped open.<\/p>\n

Charges Filed Against Snodgrass<\/h2>\n

In a statement released to Casino.org<\/em>, Oaklawn Casino said an employee contacted casino security about the disturbance. Security officers went to investigate and then contacted the local police department.<\/p>\n

\n

Local police later charged Snodgrass with third-degree battery and public intoxication. Snodgrass refused to take a portable breath test.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Snodgrass was placed on leave from his fire department job pending an investigation, KSFN<\/em>, a local TV station, said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the incident, Snodgrass also was ordered to have no contact with the victim, KNWA<\/em>, another local station, reported.<\/p>\n

Hate Crimes Against Asians on Rise<\/h2>\n

The incident concerned several members of the University of Arkansas faculty who were contacted for comments by Casino.org<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike so many others who are part of immigrant communities, being in America and being American is something many Asian Americans cherish, and incidents like this can be jarring,\u201d Kimberly Vu-Dinh, an assistant professor at the university\u2019s law school, said.<\/p>\n

What makes this event particularly disconcerting is that Snodgrass is a public servant who is paid to protect the lives and properties of others,\u201d<\/strong> Vu-Dinh added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe fact of the matter is, racism is not only scary, but it’s also just bad for the economy, and whether government officials — and also Oaklawn Casino’s owners — let violent, racist behavior go is something people of that target demographic notice, and they’ll speak their minds with their bank accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also noted the recent increased violence nationally against Asian Americans.<\/p>\n

It is clearly related to the pandemic, and the way it has been handled by government authorities breeds this kind of racism, beginning with former President Trump calling it \u2018the China Virus,\u2019<\/strong>\u201d Vu-Dinh told Casino.org<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ka Zeng, a political scientist and director of the university\u2019s Asian Studies program, added, \u201cIt is unfortunate to see the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans throughout the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsian Americans are also the victims of the virus. The pandemic has changed the lives for billions of people worldwide, including Chinese and other populations in Asia. Shifting the blame for the pandemic to Asian Americans can only exacerbate racial divide and undermine the diversity and inclusiveness that have made America such a great nation in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assailant Allegedly Fueled by Hate<\/h2>\n

Also, Jordan Blair Woods, associate professor of law and faculty director of the Richard B. Atkinson Program on LGBTQ Law & Policy at the University of Arkansas School of Law, told Casino.org<\/em> some of Snodgrass\u2019 statements \u201care concerning.<\/p>\n

The perpetrator’s use of bias language is a key piece of evidence that demonstrates that a criminal act of violence was motivated by hate,\u201d<\/strong> Woods said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe incident fits into a troubling pattern of increasing reports of hate crimes and violence against Asian individuals in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Woods continued. “Hate crimes have devastating effects beyond individual victims and instill fear in targeted communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arkansas does not have a hate crime<\/a> law.<\/p>\n

Neither Snodgrass nor his attorney provided comments to local media.<\/p>\n

Earlier Violence Against Asian-Americans<\/h2>\n

Earlier this year in Brooklyn<\/a>, N.Y.\u2019s Chinatown, an Asian man, identified as Yong Zheng, interceded during a struggle involving some other Asian men. The good Samaritan later died from a stabbing.<\/p>\n

He stepped into the confrontation given the rise in crime directed against Asian Americans, according to WABC<\/em>, a local TV station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outrage is spreading over a violent confrontation at Arkansas\u2019 Oaklawn Casino, where a fire captain allegedly hurled racial insults and threatened to kill an Asian American man earlier this month. Eventually, Bentonville, Ark. Fire Captain Benjamin Snodgrass was arrested. Both he and Liem Nguyen suffered injuries in the March 13 struggle outside of the Hot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":168669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nArkansas Casino Scene of Alleged Racist Comments to Asian-American<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Outrage is spreading over an Arkansas casino confrontation. A fire captain allegedly made racial insults and threatened an Asian-American.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arkansas Casino Scene of Alleged Racist Comments to Asian-American\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Outrage is spreading over an Arkansas casino confrontation. A fire captain allegedly made racial insults and threatened an Asian-American.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-29T14:17:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-29T17:55:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Men-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1279\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgedsilv\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/\",\"name\":\"Arkansas Casino Scene of Alleged Racist Comments to Asian-American\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Men-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-29T14:17:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-29T17:55:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e\"},\"description\":\"Outrage is spreading over an Arkansas casino confrontation. A fire captain allegedly made racial insults and threatened an Asian-American.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Men-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Men-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1279},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Arkansas Casino Alleges Man Made Threats, Racist Comments to Asian American\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e\",\"name\":\"Ed Silverstein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Ed Silverstein\"},\"description\":\"Ed Silverstein is a senior reporter covering gambling law and crime news for Casino.org. Ed is an award-winning journalist with credits ranging from the Associated Press to American Lawyer Media. Ed joined the Casino.org news team in 2019 after decades of experience in legal reporting. His past reporting and editing assignments include Cowles Business Media, Columbia University Press, the Connecticut Post, and Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. Besides the law and its application to the gaming industry, Ed\u2019s areas of expertise span business, politics, education, and state and local government. Ed holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and master\u2019s degrees from Harvard and Yale. His professional awards include recognition from the New England Press Association and New England AP News Executives. Ed currently resides in Connecticut, where he enjoys photography and bowling in his spare time. Contact Ed at ed.silverstein@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/ed-silverstein\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgedsilv\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/ed-silverstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Arkansas Casino Scene of Alleged Racist Comments to Asian-American","description":"Outrage is spreading over an Arkansas casino confrontation. A fire captain allegedly made racial insults and threatened an Asian-American.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Arkansas Casino Scene of Alleged Racist Comments to Asian-American","og_description":"Outrage is spreading over an Arkansas casino confrontation. A fire captain allegedly made racial insults and threatened an Asian-American.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-03-29T14:17:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-29T17:55:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1279,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Men-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ed Silverstein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgedsilv","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ed Silverstein","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/","name":"Arkansas Casino Scene of Alleged Racist Comments to Asian-American","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Men-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-29T14:17:40+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-29T17:55:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e"},"description":"Outrage is spreading over an Arkansas casino confrontation. A fire captain allegedly made racial insults and threatened an Asian-American.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Men-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Men-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1279},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/arkansas-casino-scene-of-alleged-threats-racist-comments-from-firefighter-to-asian-american-visitor\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Arkansas Casino Alleges Man Made Threats, Racist Comments to Asian American"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e","name":"Ed Silverstein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png","caption":"Ed Silverstein"},"description":"Ed Silverstein is a senior reporter covering gambling law and crime news for Casino.org. Ed is an award-winning journalist with credits ranging from the Associated Press to American Lawyer Media. Ed joined the Casino.org news team in 2019 after decades of experience in legal reporting. His past reporting and editing assignments include Cowles Business Media, Columbia University Press, the Connecticut Post, and Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. Besides the law and its application to the gaming industry, Ed\u2019s areas of expertise span business, politics, education, and state and local government. Ed holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and master\u2019s degrees from Harvard and Yale. His professional awards include recognition from the New England Press Association and New England AP News Executives. Ed currently resides in Connecticut, where he enjoys photography and bowling in his spare time. Contact Ed at ed.silverstein@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/ed-silverstein","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgedsilv"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/ed-silverstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}