‘Why Do You Have To Be So Mean?’: Texas Lawyer Accused of Kicking Cleaning Lady Off Property, Hurting Her Arm After Realizing She Was Black

Black woman says Texas attorney turned her away when she shows up from work
A Black woman says a prominent Texas attorney turned her away and hurt her arm. (Photo: Kimberly Pete)

A woman says she is recovering after a prominent Texas lawyer slammed her car door on her arm.

Kimberly Pete says she was on her way to a cleaning appointment set up by Homeaglow when the alleged attack happened.

In a video, the Port Arthur, Texas, woman posted on TikTok, a man in a blue suit approaches her vehicle, telling her to leave as she explains she is there with the cleaning service.

You can see Pete try to exit her car and ask the man if he wants her to clean. He then says “no ma’am,” and tells her to leave his driveway so he can get out.

“Nobody invited you. Now go,” he added.

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“Why do you have to be so mean?” she replied.

At one point, he asks her if she is recording him.

“I will post this.”

“Are you serious?”

After closing her car door, Pete pans her phone to show the homeowner’s property.

“You won’t come back, I promise you that,” the man added.

Pete told Atlanta Black Star she took that job to raise money for the homeless.

“I was homeless for two weeks, living in my car,” Pete said. “And sometimes kind people would come up and give me food, money, anything I needed. I want to bring the same kind of joy I felt to other people.”

Pete claims the man, Texas attorney Clay Dugas, slammed the car door on her arm, leaving her in a sling.

“I can’t go to work with a sling on,” she said.

But above all, Pete says the man’s words are what hurt her the most.

“I’m a person who loves to help others. My picture was on my Homeaglow profile. He knew I was Black,” she told the Atlanta Black Star.

Pete says she plans to seek legal action.

The Atlanta Black Star reached out to Dugas’ law firm multiple times for a comment, but has not heard back.

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