Mental health, not racism, caused water bottle incident on Cary greenway, police say

Mar. 27—A jogger who threw water bottles and insulted two people on a Cary greenway was suffering from a mental health crisis and wasn't attacking two people because of their race, Cary police said Friday.

One of the people is Chinese American, and the other is Iranian. They both told ABC 11 they believed the attacks were racially motivated.

"Investigators determined neither race nor ethnicity were a factor in the incident," said John Reeves, a spokesman for the police department, in an email. "Following a complete and thorough investigation and in consult with the district attorney's office, no criminal charges will be filed."

Cary Police Department responded Wednesday morning to the White Oak Greenway after one of the people called 911 and reported the jogger, The News & Observer previously reported.

"He just said something like 'go back,'" said the 911 caller.

The caller said the man spat on one person, knocked a phone out of someone's hand and insulted others.

Ashad Hajela contributed to this report.

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