A Missouri woman is out of a job as she was seen on video stopping a black man from entering his apartment building.
“You can film all you want,” says the woman identified in the New York Times as Hilary Brooke Mueller. Well, that footage, posted to Facebook by D’Arreion Nuriyah Toles, got her fired.
She used to work for Tribeca-STL, a real state management company.
“The video did involve one of our employees, but the event did NOT take place at Tribeca-STL and did NOT involve one of our tenants,” the company said in a statement obtained by KMOV4. “The video is showing the employee in her private life at her own residence interacting with another person. The Tribeca-STL family is a minority-owned company that consists of employees and residents from many racial backgrounds. We are proud of this fact and do not and never will stand for racism or racial profiling at our company.”
“Please move, ma’am,” Toles, who is black, says in his first video.
“I can,” says Mueller, who is white. “Do you live here?”
Toles complains about her blocking the doorway into the building, but instead of moving, she quizzes him on what apartment he lives at. Toles refuses to answer and attempts to scoot past her.
“I’m uncomfortable,” she says.
“Okay, you can be uncomfortable,” he says. “That’s your discretion. You’re uncomfortable because of you. I need you to move out of my way, please.”
He accuses her of touching him. She denies it.
They continue their back-and-forth, in which she quizzes him on his residence. He half-answers by saying he lives on the fourth floor. Mueller insists on seeing his key fob into the building. Toles finally squeezes past her into the building.
She follows him into the elevator, and says that if he does live there, then “I would like to meet you because you’re a neighbor.” Mueller rides up with him to his floor, and follows him to his apartment.
“You just followed me all the way to my door,” Toles says. “And you see my keys are in the door.”
Mueller says she just wants to say hi, and she asks him his name. He refuses to answer that question.
“Have a good night ma’am,” he says. “Don’t do that again.”
Mueller could not be reached for comment.
[Screengrab via D’Arreion Nuriyah Toles]