When a Black Ohio bartender tried to quiet and take a beer away from a Hispanic senior civil rights investigator, she allegedly told him she “hated black people” and hoped he would “get a call from the KKK.”
Julia Acosta-Grommon, who was hired by Dayton’s Human Relations council back in April, was attending a birthday celebration with a friend Aug. 29 at Elsa’s Corner Cantina in Sugarcreek Township, according to WHIO TV.
The city is about 15 miles south of Dayton.
The civil rights worker had finished two beers at the bar and restaurant when the Black bartender came on duty at 4 p.m. to serve them their thirds, WHIO reported.
That’s when the women became loud despite several requests to quiet down, the bartender said.
Restaurant video showed the bartender gesturing to a manager, who later told the employee to take Acosta-Grommon’s beer, WHIO reported.
At that point, the woman allegedly said this is why she “hated black people” and “hated representing them.”
Ryan Collins, the bartender, allegedly told Acosta-Grommon and her friend they were causing a scene and needed to leave, WHIO reported.
He later told city investigators Acosta-Grommon told him he would “never be more than a black piece of (expletive) bartender.”
Collins responded by again telling Acosta-Grommon she needed to leave and she again said she hated Black people, the worker said.
“‘Black people are the low-lives of society, and it’s for that reason she doesn’t have to listen to a black piece of (expletive) like me,'” Collins said the woman told him.
A man Dayton Daily News identified as Craig Orzechowski, part-owner of the bar, later escorted Acosta-Grommon and her friend to the restaurant’s entryway, where the women sat and Acosta-Grommon refused to leave until the owner called police.
On her way out, Acosta-Grommon allegedly told Collins she hoped he had a “cross burning” on his lawn when he got home and got a “call from the KKK,” he stated in an email both Dayton Daily News and WHIO obtained.
The city of Dayton fired Acosta-Grommon in mid-September after the complaint made by Collins was corroborated by video evidence and statements by the management team.
When city officials met with Acosta-Grommon, she reportedly said she did not recall a negative exchange with a bartender but remembered being asked to leave, according to a memo Dayton Daily News obtained from her personnel file.
