VIDEO SHOWS MAN THREATENING TO CALL 911 ON BLACK TENANTS AT APARTMENT GYM

A viral Instagram video shows a white man threatening to call 911 on a group of black men who were using a private gym. The men say they work in the building and were racially profiled. Social media consulting company Top Figure shared the video this week. According to the caption, the group went to a private gym accessible to tenants by key card and were immediately approached by Thomas Austin, who asked if they “belonged” in the building. In the video, Austin, the CEO of a venture capital and private equity firm, asks the men if they are tenants in the building and what floor they are on. One man said, “Don’t worry about that, we don’t have to tell you.” Austin said in the video he was “calling 911 now,” but said in an emailed statement he called building security. In an emailed statement to the Daily Dot, Austin said he [messed up] and “should have handled it differently” but also said the men were “trespassing” and “got in my face in a very threatening manner.” He also said he “would have done this regardless of race.”


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