A viral video on TikTok captured a New Jersey apartment manager calling the police on a Black resident using the building's gym.
As soon as the police arrived, the resident in question began recording the encounter, subsequently posting it to his TikTok page, where he goes by the username Mr. NYC (@beautifulsoulsinnyc).
@beautifulsoulsinnyc Building manager @HamiltonCoveapts called the cops on me for workout in the gym in a building where i live & pay rent at. #explain #thisisamerica #racism #discrimination #hate #stopthehate #blacklivesmatter #police #njpolice #newjersey #newjerseypolice #smh
Mr. NYC gave a quick summary of what transpired in the video's caption.
"Building manager @HamiltonCoveapts called the cops on me for workout in the gym in a building where i live & pay rent at."
The video began with one of the police officers introducing themself, as well as his fellow officer and the building manager who called them, to Mr. NYC.
Mr. NYC questioned the intentions of the building manager.
"So what happened, manager? "
"You called the cops on me after what?"
The manager claimed he just wanted to know which apartment Mr. NYC lived in and he had been doing so to everyone else working out in the gym at the time.
But Mr. NYC quickly corrected this false claim, pointing out he was only doing so to the Black residents in the gym at the time.
"You skipped the two White people that were here and you came straight to us."
"I got you on recording, so if you want I can show you."When Mr. NYC asked if the police were called on everyone there or just on himself, one of the police officers tried to quell the rising tension, by telling Mr. NYC everything was "OK", which Mr. NYC rebuffed.
"It’s not OK. You don’t call the cops on residents."
"That’s not what you do."
As Mr. NYC was saying this to the officer, an overlay came across the screen asking: "racist or not?"
Mr. NYC then pointed out how the correct protocol the apartment manager should have gone through was to call his superior and ask what to do and the police should never have been called.
The police officer once again interjected.
"We’re here to make sure that you’re supposed to be here."
The over 700 thousand viewer's of the video were horrified by what they saw, quickly condemning the behavior of the manager, with several calling for his immediate termination.
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Several were outraged by the conduct of the police officer, particularly their telling Mr. NYC everything was "OK" in what was arguably an instance of racial profiling.
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The incident took place at the Hamilton Cove apartments in Weehawken, New Jersey.
Mr. NYC tagged the complex's TikTok page in his post, but their account has since been disabled.
The complex has not made any comment about the incident as of this writing.
Laura Michalski on Unsplash 
