SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah, Nov. 3, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Charges were filed Friday against a 61-year-old South Salt Lake man accused of spitting on and yelling at a Muslim woman and her 7-year-old son at a train station.
Police say Robert Lowell Wolcott was intoxicated at the Utah Transit Authority‘s Millcreek Station, 210 W. 3300 South, on Oct. 27 when he yelled, swore and spit at a woman dressed in traditional Muslim clothing.
Charging documents say the woman and boy had just gotten off a TRAX train when Wolcott yelled at them to “go back to your country” and then spit at them.
Wolcott is charged with two counts of propelling a bodily substance, a class A misdemeanor; intoxication, a class C misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct, an infraction.
The charges for spitting at the woman and boy carry a targeting penalty sentencing enhancement because he allegedly selected them based on a belief they were not from the U.S., according to a news release from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.
“Hate, in any form, has no place in Salt Lake County,” District Attorney Sim Gill said. “These alleged crimes not only do harm to the victims but also to our entire community. Hate speech is protected under our constitution. Hateful action to the criminal harm of others is not and will be prosecuted by this office.”
UTA police were dispatched to Millcreek Station after Wolcott attempted to board a bus while intoxicated, charges state. The driver refused to let him on the bus, police said.
When an officer arrived to investigate, he was approached by the woman, “who was visibly upset … and reported that [Wolcott] had spit at her and had spit on her 7-year-old son,” charging documents say.
The woman said she and her son had just gotten off a TRAX train when Wolcott yelled, “Go back to your country!” He then spit at the woman, spit on the boy and said, “F— you,” according to charging documents.
“[Wolcott] stumbled away while continuing to say, ‘Go back to your country.’ [He] was placed under arrest, given a written notice of trespass from all UTA modes of transportation for 30 days, and transported to jail,” charges say.
