A Florida hotel manager who pulled out his gun in an elevator and told black Florida A&M students they didn’t “belong in the elevator” is now a former hotel manager.
The man, later identified as Don Crandall, was caught on video in an exchange with three black students and one white student. The students, all juniors, have been named as Isaiah Butterfield, Fitzroy Rhoden, Stephen Brooks and Joshua Cosby. They said they were there to attend a party.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Crandall has been fired from his job at the Baymont by Wyndham in Tallahassee after the video of the incident spread far and wide.
As the video shows, Crandall attempted to prevent the four students from entering an elevator in the Stadium Centre apartment complex because they didn’t have a key. “Here’s my key,” he said.
“Where am I going? I am going upstairs to get laid, what are you doing, limp dick?” he said. “Let me be clear: You ain’t getting in this fucking elevator” he said. “You think I’m fucking kidding?”
One of the students asked, “Sir, you bringing out your gun, what’s your purpose for that?” one student replied.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Excuse me. Forgive me,” he responded.
Video of this exchange went viral and Crandall’s employer, of course, ended up hearing about it. The hotel released a statement on Instagram, saying the “former General Manager” is no longer with the company.
“Our team has gone ahead and took the actions that were necessary to uphold our beliefs,” Pax Hotel Group said.
The teens have said that they didn’t call police because they felt Crandall “was trying to provoke us to the point where it got violent so he could retaliate with the gun,” thinking that “if this dude even feels threatened, he [was] going to find any excuse to pull the trigger.”
They feared they could end up like Trayvon Martin, who was infamously shot and killed by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was found not guilty.
[Image via Twitter screengrab]