CHRISTIAN DRUNK IN FRIENDSWOOD WAS UNFRIENDLY CHRIISTIAN

Man cited after racist rant at ‘little peon Arab’ in Friendswood phone store

By Cory McCord and Syan Rhodes

Click2Houston
April 17, 2019

FRIENDSWOOD, Texas - A man was cited with multiple misdemeanors Monday after going off on a racist rant at a cellphone store in Friendswood.

Joey Derek Christian, 38, of Pasadena, was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct after he verbally abused an employee at the AT&T store at 101 West Parkwood Ave. around 6:30 p.m.

Police said Christian was using abusive language and appeared to be intoxicated.

The incident started because Christian's acquaintance, who went to the store with him, didn't have the proper form of identification for a credit check when he came to the store to open a new account.

The incident was caught on camera by a customer. The video shows Christian berating the store employee for several minutes.

"I don't like dealing with some little peon Arab that doesn't even belong here," Christian can be heard saying to the employee on the video.

Christian is belligerent and vulgar throughout the encounter. When the employee asks Christian to stop being rude, Christian said, "I haven't been rude yet. You haven't seen rude yet, I promise you."

At one point during the rant, Christian bragged about killing people of Middle Eastern descent.

"I've been killing them for 20 years. I've been on five different continents," Christian can be heard saying in the video.

As Christian was exiting the store, he continued to yell at the employee. Police officers were waiting for him outside.

The store employee said it took a lot of self-control to not react to the hateful words.

"Yeah, I was aggravated but I had to keep my cool in that situation. I could never stoop down onto his kind of level," he said. "It took all my will power. I was a little shaky, but it really helped having that lady in the store recording it. I knew she was calling the cops."

KPRC2 attempted to talk to Christian, but no one answered the door at his home in Pasadena.

Channel 2 legal analyst Brian Wice said the situation isn't about the right to free speech.

"His conduct is the ultimate scarlet letter because this guy's chuckleheaded act is out there in computer world forever," Wice said. "The Supreme Court says if you engage in the use of fighting words, you're not protected by the First Amendment. Fighting words ... hate crime ... whatever you want to call it, that shouldn't be tolerated. I'm glad it's getting the awareness it needs."

Christian paid a total of $682 in fines for the two violations and will not have to appear in court, according to Friendswood police.

Christian was arrested April 8 for his second DWI offense, police said.