A security officer quit on-air during an interview with Fox 7, Austin, after his white female supervisor blamed him for being assaulted on the job.
Two young male suspects attacked Percy Payne and damaged property at the parking lot of an office building he was hired to protect. In a shocking and egregious instance of victim-blaming, Payne’s manager with Priebe Security Services screamed at him from off-camera after he spoke about the incident to reporters, yelling, “Look, Percy, I wouldn’t have touched him! I wouldn’t have touched him! You touched him!”
Around 9:30 p.m. on June 24, Payne said he spotted two males on surveillance video entering a private underground garage of his workplace at East 6th and Brushy St. in East Austin. “I witnessed two young Hispanic males on two electric scooters,” he told Fox 7.
When he went downstairs, he saw the men near his car and believed they were attempting to steal it.
“One individual was at my driver’s door with his back to me, looking back. The other individual was at my passenger door facing me, being a lookout,” he recounted. After he tried to detain the two suspects, things escalated.
“A young individual tried to run me over with his scooter multiple times. And then that’s when they started to assault,” Payne told the local news outlet, adding that he noticed a screwdriver sticking out of one of the male’s pockets.
“I heard the individual say, ‘Hold him.’ And that’s when he went for the screwdriver to try to stab me. I let them go and immediately went to get my work phone to call 911,” said Payne.
The rest of the attack was caught on security video, leaving little doubt that Payne was simply doing his job.
The security video showed two males with hoodies obscuring their faces leaving the parking structure on scooters with Payne in pursuit on foot. As the two suspects flew down the offramp exit, one crashed into the barrier arm gate and fell off the scooter, giving Payne a chance to catch up. The footage cuts to Payne and the male who crashed, talking face-to-face in a seemingly calm manner while the second suspect circled around the pair on a scooter.
In the next clip, Payne is shown grappling with the two men at the parking lot gate. As one male attempted to punch and kick Payne, the other picked up what appeared to be a filled plastic water bottle and hurled it at the security guard, narrowly missing his head. In the two-on-one brawl, Payne and one of the suspects landed at least one punch on each other. In the next clip, Payne walked down the parking lot ramp alone.
Payne later told TMZ that he was frustrated with the police response to the on-duty incident.
Despite the threat to his safety and his brave attempt to thwart the suspects, his supervisor later chastised him during the interview with Fox 7 for breaking company policy and speaking to the press in his uniform.
“We are very sorry that happened to you,” she said to Payne, interrupting mid-interview. “We have a policy that you’re not supposed to do any interviews in your uniform. If you want to do this as a private citizen, you can,” she stated from off-camera.
Payne was dressed in a light-colored shirt with two unreadable badges and an unreadable name tag.
As he took a deep breath to compose himself, he said, “I understand what you’re saying, but it’s also my safety. And this is the only way my situation will get out there.”
Payne decided to quit on-air, according to the local reporter. Though the manager’s image was blurred in the interview, it was clear that tension was escalating as she waved a phone around in one hand and ordered Payne to take his uniform off.
The video cut to Payne in his street clothes — a Cleveland Browns football T-shirt — as he remained patient through a barrage of yelling. “Look, Percy, I wouldn’t have touched him! I wouldn’t have touched him! You touched him!”
When he calmly asked her if she thought the incident was his fault, the unidentified manager doubled down on the ridiculous behavior and said, “I would say yes. Every bit of it.”
At this point, the shocked man said, “OK, OK,” looking off into the distance. In an incredible display of politeness, he told her, “Thank you. No worries.”
Afterward, he summed up the heated exchange to reporters, “The fact that my supervisor basically told me it was my fault that I got assaulted, that let me know all I needed to know.”
Priebe Security Services has a 3.1 rating on Google based on 112 reviews, with many negative comments coming from people who identify themselves as former employees dating back at least three years. A rep from the company recently told Fox they are “looking into the situation” with Payne.
