A Missouri woman has been fired from her job after she was recorded on video blocking a black man from entering his apartment complex.
D’Arreion Toles was returning home to his apartment this weekend when the woman, who was not named, stood in front of him at the lobby entrance.
Toles recorded the incident on his phone, then posted it on Facebook. During the incident, the woman repeatedly questions him and demands proof that he lives in the downtown loft.
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The man refuses to offer her proof, saying, “You are blocking me into my building. This is my building as well. So, I need you to get out of my way.”
She refuses to move and says she feels “uncomfortable” by his presence. She then demands Toles tell her exactly which apartment he lives in.
The two tenants speak in the lobby for some time, after which the woman follows the man all the way to his fourth-floor apartment.
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“Who are you going up to the fourth floor to see?” she asks after entering the elevator.
“I live here,” Toles says again.
Once they approach his door, she changes her tone, saying: “I just want to say hi, what is your name.”
Toles wrote about the incident on Facebook, saying that the woman later called police.
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“Then 30 mins later police knock on my door, because she called! I was shocked this is America in 2018!” he wrote.
The viral video has been shared more than 133,000 times, and prompted a response from the woman’s employer.
In a statement to CBS Affiliate KMOV4, Tribeca-STL explained that they found the interaction “disturbing.”
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“The Tribeca-STL family is a minority-owned company that consists of employees and residents from many racial backgrounds,” the company said.
“We are proud of this fact and do not and never will stand for racism or racial profiling at our company. After a review of the matter the employee has been terminated and is no longer with our Company.”
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KMOV4 spoke to Toles, who said he is not upset with the woman, but would like to speak with her.
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“I am not mad at her. I am not upset with her. I am not going to go after her legally or anything like that,” he said. “I wish her the best. I would still have a conversation with her.”
Toles added that he’s concerned this seems to be “something that is recurring in America.”
There have been numerous similar incidents in America in the past months. Many have resulted in 911 calls and authorities being involved.
One such case, which occurred in August, involved a black man being fatally shot inside his own apartment by a Dallas police officer who thought he was trespassing.
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