A New Jersey man is putting a gym on blast after they called police on him and his son while they were working out.
Andrew Cox Sr. took his son to Crunch Fitness in East Brunswick, New Jersey, for a Saturday morning workout.
Physical ID
Cox spoke with Atlanta Black Star about what happened. He said when he and his son got to the gym, two employees asked for his ID.
“Soon as I heard that, the first thing in my head is, ‘Oh, you guys don’t know he’s a kid,” he said. “They suggested he could do a school ID.”
Gym employees refused to accept his son’s student profile as proof of ID, insisting instead that he present a physical ID.
The employees explained that they needed something physical to hang onto while Cox’s son worked out. They showed Cox a basket of IDs from other patrons to prove the policy.
But when he asked to speak with the manager, he was told the manager was with another customer.
“I told them, ‘Hey guys, when he’s done, you know, if it’s that big a deal, have him come see me. For whatever reason you want to kick me out, but let me hear from the manager,'” Cox said.
The father and son proceeded to work out despite the employee’s request for the son’s ID. But soon after, things escalated.
“The next time I saw the manager…he arrived with police,” Cox said. “My request for a conversation with a manager was never honored before things were escalated.”
‘You Call the Cops on Me?’
In the first video, two police officers confront Cox and his son in the gym. He then walked up to the front of the facility to confront the manager and employees.
“It’s Saturday morning, and you call the cops on me because I want to work out with my son,” Cox said in the video.
“Right now, you’re interrupting a conversation between a customer and an employee,” Cox said to the police officer in the video.
The manager doesn’t appear to say anything in the first video. You can also see one officer holding up his arm to keep Cox from going back inside the gym.
At the end of the video, Cox is asked to leave the gym. He told Atlanta Black Star that he was frustrated over the situation.
“I guess I can see where people can be intimidated if they see a guy upset or visibly frustrated, but there were never any aggressive motions,” he said. “I’m not an aggressive person that way; you’ll notice in my language, ain’t no cussing, no vile language. I’m not that type of person.”
In the video, Cox tried several times to speak to the manager calmly.
“You caused the problem, so I’m asking you to leave,” the manager yells over to Cox. The angry father added a screenshot of the manager’s Instagram in his video.
Atlanta Black Star tried looking for the manager’s Instagram, but it appears he deleted it.
‘I’d Be Canceling My Membership’
Many people on social media called out the gym employees for calling the police.
“They wanted ID for an accompanied minor? Sighhh,” one person wrote on Instagram.
“Yeah, they definitely went the passive-aggressive route to call the police. That’s just not how you treat a customer. I’d be canceling my membership,” another commented.
“The staff were the issue here. They ask for the guests’ info when you check in. They could’ve looked up his age if that was the real issue. They also should’ve not jumped straight to calling the police. That would’ve infuriated me,” one user added.
Cox told Atlanta Black Star he and his son don’t usually go to this gym. He said he believes race played a role in the incident.
“If it was a Karen who came up here and requested a manager and walked onto the gym floor, is the way that you would have handled that by calling the police?”
Atlanta Black Star reached out to the gym but has not heard back.
