Police have arrested an anti-LGBTQ+ activist and charged him with criminal harassment after he took a selfie in the hospital room of a dying man. The dying man is the father of an LGBTQ+ ally who publicly criticized the anti-LGBTQ+ activist on social media.
Windsor police in the Canadian province of Ontario arrested 34-year-old anti-LGBTQ+ activist Bubba Christopher Michael Pollock on Friday after investigating his alleged harassment of 36-year-old LGBTQ+ ally Britt Leroux.
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Leroux had criticized Pollock on social media for protesting Pride events, including a recent June 10 Pride-themed drag queen story hour in London’s Wortley Village. Pollock had made a social media post pledging to organize a protest against the event alongside fellow “patriots,” The Windsor Star reported.
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Police suspect that Pollock then discovered that Leroux’s dying father, Andre Leroux, is a patient Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare Centre in Windsor. Andre Leroux has been staying in the hospital’s palliative care unit while receiving end-of-life care for pancreatic cancer.
Andre Leroux’s hospital stay became widely publicized in local media after Britt Leroux married her now-husband on the hospital’s grounds on May 19 so that her father could attend.
After his online disagreement with Britt Leroux, Pollock traveled to Andre Leroux’s room in the healthcare center and took a selfie. The picture showed Pollock smiling near Andre Leroux’s body as the man lay sleeping in his hospital bed. Pollock then posted the picture in the social media thread where Britt Leroux had criticized him.
“I thought it was photoshopped for a good 12 minutes. I thought it was a fake picture,” Britt Leroux told CTV News. “Then I realized that there were some things in my dad’s room that had changed around that I knew were getting changed that day.”
Hospital security footage showed that Pollock visited the healthcare center for eight minutes. The hospital says it is now investigating how Pollock was able to access Andre Leroux’s room. Pollock claimed that he made his visit with the “best of intentions” and presented “zero threat whatsoever.”
“This was nothing malicious whatsoever and how it’s being twisted,” Pollock told CTV News. “Not at all. I understand what it’s like to be in this situation. I brought flowers to this gentleman, dropped them off and left.”
However, Crystal Fach, co-founder of the regional LGBTQ+ advocacy group Diversity Ed, doubts Pollock’s claim.
“In my opinion, this is an intimidation tactic that says ‘I can find you, anyone of you that stands up against me. I will find the people close to you.’ Right. And so that’s terrifying,” Fach said.
Pollock later wrote on social media of the dying man, “I hope he names his family in the obit, so I can ensure I don’t miss any for flowers.” He also made insulting comments about Britt Leroux’s appearance and financial status, before writing to her, “I’ll see you next week.”
After investigating, police said evidence suggested that Pollock had “consistently harassed” Britt Leroux “through social media over a period of time.” If convicted, Pollock could face anywhere from six months to 10 years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Britt Leroux said she isn’t afraid of Pollock, adding that he means nothing to her and that she will not remember him in the future.
London police arrested Pollock in April 2018 over an accusation of sexual assault and publishing someone’s “intimate” image without their consent.
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