Woman Calls Cops on Girl Selling Water

Widely shared video shows woman calling authorities on kid selling bottles without permit
By Josh Gardner,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 24, 2018 4:00 PM CDT
#PermitPatty Calls Cops on Girl Selling Water
In this Monday, May 21, 2018 photo, water bottles are displayed on shelves in a supermarket.   (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

A video being widely shared online this weekend appears to show a woman calling police in San Francisco on an 8-year-old girl for selling water without a permit. Per the Huffington Post, the woman, who appears to be white, is seen on the phone as the non-white girl's mother recorded video of the incident. As the video was quickly shared online, social media users likened it to recent incidents in which police have been called on black people who've broken no laws, such as when two men were infamously detained at a Philadelphia Starbucks in April. “You can hide all you want; the whole world gon' see ya, boo,” the girl's mother can be heard saying in the video as the woman ducks behind a wall. “Yeah, and, um, illegally selling water without a permit?” the woman on the phone responds.

Posts with the video began to go viral on Instagram and Twitter on Saturday, along with a hashtag that dubbed the woman #PermitPatty. The woman has been identified by the San Francisco Chronicle as Alison Ettel, who told the paper she was only pretending to call the police after building security failed to curtail the little girl's "constant screaming and yelling." Ettel reportedly said she was stressed out with work, which she was doing from her nearby home. After the video went viral, Ettel said she's received death threats and other disturbing messages. Ettel's business has reportedly already started to suffer. Per the Chronicle, at least one dispensary said it will no longer carry her line of cannabis treats for pets. (More racism stories.)

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