A group of Black men came to the aid of a stranded motorist who was denied service from a local gas station in Toledo, Ohio, on Saturday, Dec. 3.
In a Facebook live stream recorded by user Hedmac Goolsby, a Black motorist was accused of panhandling prior to trying to purchase gas for his stranded vehicle. Goolsby started recording shortly thereafter, saying he would not leave until police arrived.
“He needed five dollars. [I said] yeah man, I put five dollars [in] your car. She gonna call him a panhandler,” Goolsby says. “This old racist a– b—- won’t let him get his gas. And I won’t leave.”
As he recorded, viewers can hear a man in the background pleading with one of the cashiers to just let him get gas. However, the female cashier remained silent and refused to even look at the men. After nearly 30 seconds, the camera turned to the motorist, who walked up to the counter and addressed the cashiers once more.
“This is ignorant, though, dude,” the motorist, wearing a Black shirt, says. “It’s not like I’m doing anything wrong. I’m not standing here talking about breaking nothing, doing nothing. All I’m trying to say is, can I get some gas? Y’all want to try and make it seem like I’m trying to bother your people and I’m not!”
Another costumer urged the two white cashiers to just sell the man two dollars’ worth of gas so that he can “[go on and] get out your store.”
This would go on for another seven minutes or so until police arrived. When they got there, the white male cashier related his version of what transpired, while Goolsby told his side of the story to the white male officer. The police officer reminded Goolsby that businesses can refuse service to anyone they choose, so Goolsby asked him, “human to human,” what should be done. The officer said while he couldn’t force the station to sell gas to the man, the aggrieved men should file a formal complaint with the corporate office. Goolsby affirmed that’s what they would do, and said they were going to shut the gas station down.
