A set of videos that are being widely shared on social media shows four white men following and harassing a Black teenager through a Florida neighborhood.
Whitney Portela posted the clips on Facebook and TikTok that show her 18-year-old son walking through a residential community in Sarasota with four older white men tailing him and hassling him about where he lives.
The videos posted on Tuesday garnered more than four million views on TikTok overnight.
Portela explained what happened leading up to the incident. Right after Hurricane Milton swept through the city, she said there was no power and very little cell service in their home, so her son went outside to call his girlfriend and go for a walk through his neighborhood.
The teen began recording himself as four white men who appear to also live in the same neighborhood start to stalk him and press him for answers about where he lives.
“Obviously, he doesn’t live here,” one man is heard saying in the background.
“You’ve been past my house four times, I don’t know you, I’ve never seen you before and you’re walking past my house over and over again,” another man tells the teen.
“Do you live out here?” another man asks.
“I’m a part of the neighborhood,” the teen responds.
“Do you live here? You went up to my wife,” one man accuses.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the teen states. “And I think I can walk around my neighborhood.”
“Yeah, if you live here,” one of the men responds.
Portela stated that while the clips only show parts of the interaction, her son was followed for more than ten minutes.
“I am so happy he recorded every moment, and thankful my child is still here,” Portela wrote on TikTok. “I do not want to live in a community that does not welcome me and my children because of the color of our skin.”
Another clip Portela posted shows one of the stalkers exit a white sedan, retrieve something from the passenger seat, and then try to charge at the teen before another man stops him and holds him back. Although it’s hard to make out in the video, many viewers suggested the man pulled out a gun.
In another video, the teen stops to talk to a Sarasota County sheriff’s deputy who pulled over in a marked unit. The teen points out the group of men trailing behind him and asks the deputy if their actions can be considered harassment.
The video ends before showing how his encounter with the deputy ended.
Needless to say, thousands of people expressed disgust and anger and urged the family to press charges.
“Why is that man throwing wild accusations about his wife? I am sorry you are going through this,” one person commented.
“I can’t imagine how scared he must have felt in this moment,” another person added. “That had to be terrifying.”
On Facebook, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office posted that it is “aware of a video circulating on various social media platforms of an incident that occurred in the Skye Ranch neighborhood on Thursday, October 10.”
“Detectives have been assigned and are actively locating and interviewing witnesses in what appears to be an altercation involving neighbors and a male subject who was recording himself as he was walking,” the post reads.
The agency requests anyone with any information about the incident to call the office or its investigations bureau.
The president of the Sarasota branch of the NAACP told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that the organization is working alongside the sheriff’s office and the teen’s family.
“When the video came across my desk it was very disturbing,” President Trevor Harvey said.
Adding, “It’s disturbing that this year we continue to battle these types of issues with young men of color. It’s sad that we can’t even walk in our neighborhood and not be harassed by someone who doesn’t look like us because they think we don’t belong to it. It is a clear representation of what’s happening in our country.”
Harvey continued, “It speaks to the climate we are in. It’s disheartening that we are still dealing with these types of issues. I was immediately concerned because it made me think of Ahmaud Aubrery, and we don’t want a tragedy like this in our community… these men need to be held accountable.”
Atlanta Black Star has reached out to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and the Sarasota NAACP for updates on the investigation and is currently awaiting any responses.
