Video Shows Black Man Forced To Prove He Has Access to His Apartment Complex Pool By White Cop
A Black man in Indianapolis believes he was racially profiled when an off-duty cop questioned him about whether he had legitimate access to the community pool of the apartment complex where he lives.
Shayne Holland has lived at the River Crossing Apartments for over a year and often uses his official key fob to access the pool and gym. Last Friday, he was relaxing by the pool after a workout when a white woman confronted him and demanded to know where he lived, reported RTV6.
"She didn't introduce herself, she didn't say hello," Holland told RTV6. "She says, 'Do you live here?' I'm like, 'Yes, I live here, I wouldn't be here if I didn't live here.'"
In a video recorded by Holland, the woman continued to press him about where he lived. While Holland did not give his exact address for his own privacy, he did show the woman his key fob.
"I would not have been able to get in the door without the key. Is that true? Yes or no?” he asked on the video.
The woman then snatched Holland’s fob and he did not react in order to keep the situation from escalating.
"Anything that I do, she could say, 'I felt like my life was in danger,'" Holland told WTHR.
After a while, Holland said his property manager came out to tell Holland that his mother's purse was still in the office from the day before. Holland thought this would prove to the woman, who he later learned was on off-duty cop, that he was in fact a resident of the complex.
Yet, much to Holland’s surprise, the property manager sides with the woman and asked Holland to leave the pool.
Holland says that while he won’t accuse anyone of being a racist, he does want an apology from the apartment owners and the officer.
"If you need to have somebody make sure that it's safe and make sure that there are not too many people that don't live at the pool, I don't mind that. Just let me know that. I don't think that they did that, and I think that could have solved it," Holland told RTV6.