Jasmine Edwards was at her neighbourhood pool in Winston-Salem, N.C., with her son when a man approached her and demanded identification.
The man, later identified by newspaper Winston-Salem Journal as Adam Bloom, said the private pool in the community Glenridge was only for residents.
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Police were eventually called, and Edwards took to Facebook live to document the July 4 incident. The video has been watched more than four-million times.
In the video, two police officers are seen trying to sort out the conflict.
“Nobody else was asked their ID. I feel this is racial profiling,” Edwards tells police. “I am the only black person here with my son in the pool.”
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Bloom then claims he asks residents for their IDs “pretty much a couple times a week.”
After some back and forth, the woman shows her ID to police.
“I apologize for the time and the altercation that occurred,” the officer says.
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In an interview with NBC affiliate WXII News, Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson said the whole incident was unnecessary.
“At the end of the day, there was no need to see an ID, at that point, because there was nothing to say that an ID was necessary,” she said.
“We will not be used as pawns to further someone’s dislike for anyone,” Thompson said.
Edwards also asked Bloom to apologize repeatedly in the video, but he did not.
The video went viral and viewers demanded that Bloom’s employer, Sonoco Products, take some action.
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On Friday morning, the company posted on Facebook that they had fired Bloom.
“Our core values at Sonoco are built on dignity and respect for all, and we do not condone discrimination of any kind, inside or outside of the workplace,” the post read.
The company added that it has more than 20,000 employees across the world of all races, religions and backgrounds.
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“On behalf of our more than 20,000 teammates around the world, we extend our sincerest apologies to all who have been hurt by this incident, especially Ms. Edwards and her family.”
The Glenridge Homeowners Association also announced that Bloom had resigned from his position as the pool chairman and board member, effective immediately.
“In confronting and calling the police on one of our neighbors, the pool chair escalated a situation in a way that does not reflect the inclusive values Glenridge seeks to uphold as a community,” a statement provided to the Winston-Salem Journal read.
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Several similar incidents in recent days
This is the latest in a series of recent incidents in the United States where police have been called on black individuals for trivial reasons.
This week, police were called on a black politician canvassing an Oregon neighbourhood for re-election.
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Police in Ohio were also called after a 12-year-old black boy accidentally cut a strip of a neighbour’s grass while mowing the lawn.
Another recent incident involved a woman calling 911 on a young black girl who was selling water bottles.
There was also the highly reported case of two black men at a Starbucks in Pennsylvania, who were deemed suspicious for no apparent reason.
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