A white St. Louis woman seen in a viral video attempting to block her Black neighbor from entering the downtown apartment building where they both reside has been fired from her job.
The woman’s employer, Tribeca Luxury Apartments-St. Louis, said it was “disturbed” by the interaction in the video and confirmed the woman on tape was indeed one of its employees, local station KMOV reported. The company noted the incident didn’t take place at one of its properties, nor did it involve any of its tenants.
The unnamed woman was booted from her job as a property manager at Tribeca-STL. (D’Arreion Toles / Facebook video screenshot)
“After a review of the matter the employee has been terminated and is no longer with our Company,” the property management firm said in a statement. “At Tribeca-STL we want all residents, guests and visitors to feel welcome, safe and respected.”
It added: “The Tribeca-STL family is a minority-owned company that consists of employees and residents from many racial backgrounds. We’re proud of this fact and do not and never will stand for racism or racial profiling at our company.”
The unnamed woman worked as property manager for the firm, according to the St. Louis American.
The firing comes after the woman’s identity and place of employment were outed in the comments section of a Facebook video uploaded by resident D’Arreion Toles on Saturday. Toles told KMOV he was returning home from a late night at the office when the woman confronted him, then blocked him from getting to his fourth floor loft at the Elder Shirts Lofts in downtown St. Louis.
Video of the incident, which now has nearly 5 million views, shows the unnamed woman repeatedly demanding to know which apartment Toles lives in.
“I don’t need to tell you that information,” Toles tells her. “I live here and you are blocking the door.”
“This is my building,” the woman replies as she stands in front of the entrance, refusing to let him in.
“Ma’am, you’re not security. You’re not the property manager,” Toles says.
“All I am asking is what unit. This is my building,” she responds.
After multiple requests for her to step aside, Toles brushes past the woman and proceeds to the elevator. She follows him to his fourth-floor apartment, even though she discloses earlier in the video that she lives on the third floor.
Toles uses the key fob to enter his unit, but this is of little consolation to his nosy neighbor. The St. Louis man said officers arrived to his apartment about 30 minutes later but left without issuing a citation.
“I was kind of blown away, shocked and like wow,” Toles told KMOV. “I’m just glad I had my camera out. If I didn’t have my camera out, I feel it could’ve gone a totally different way.”
Toles said he isn’t upset with the woman and doesn’t plan on taking legal action against her.
“I am not mad at her. I am not upset with her,” he added. “I am not going to go after her legally or anything like that. I wish her the best. “I’d still have a conversation with her.”
Watch more in the clips below.
