Vancouver pastor Samuel Lee identified as man hassled by rude Seattle residents

By Justin McElroy, The Province

A day after a #findsam campaign began on twitter to find the Vancouver man whose car was vandalized in Seattle, The Province has found Sam.

Samuel Lee, a Vancouver pastor with Lighthouse Ministries, was in Seattle with his family on Tuesday when his car windows were smashed and tires slashed by May Day rioters.

Lee was briefly interviewed by KOMO-TV, and at the time said the reaction of passersby was almost as hurtful.

“I don’t know why people want pictures of my car. I don’t know why they have to mouth off to me and tell me to ‘go back to Canada, you hoser,’” he said. “This is a real welcome to Seattle.”

However, he didn’t give his full name, and the mystery about his identity sparked a campaign to find him so Seattle could apologize.

“The response has just been overwhelming,” said Lindsay Cohen, the KOMO reporter who covered the story and started the hashtag. “People just empathize with him, as a father, as a tourist.”

Aside from the outpouring of apologies from citizens, the City of Seattle has offered to give him and his family an all-expense paid trip back to the city.

“Many people in Seattle would like to make good,” said Cohen. “I don’t know if you can after the fact, but they would certainly like to try”

But Lee said he was unaware of the attention his story had received.

“I didn’t know any of this was happening,” he said to The Province when contacted, but declined to comment further until later in the day.

Tags: #findsam, seattle