Every so often somebody does something incredibly short-sighted that is caught on video and goes viral as an example of bad behavior — at times taken out of context or misconstrued — ultimately having a negative effect on that individual’s career and/or life.
Such is the case for a white woman who was fired from her job as an apartment complex property manager after she called the police on a black man who refused to take off his socks while in a community pool.
WMC reported that Erica Walker, the now-former employee of the Riverset Apartments on Mud Island in Memphis, Tennessee was fired on Thursday after her employers conducted a brief investigation following the viral video of her confronting and calling the police on a black family enjoying the pool on July 4.
The incident was caught on cell phone video and posted on Facebook by Camry Porter, a resident who was at the pool with her boyfriend and two godchildren.
The boyfriend had been watching the children while sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet dangling in the water while still wearing socks, a violation of the community pool’s rules, of which he was twice informed by Walker and asked to rectify the situation.
When Walker confronted the man about the rules violation and ultimately asked them to leave, Porter countered that other guests of the pool were also in violation of the community rules, such as a requirement swimmers wear “proper swim attire” and a prohibition against hats, t-shirts and alcohol in the pool, none of whom were also asked to leave.
Walker eventually called the police and Porter and her crew left after they arrived, later posting her account of what happened on social media to see it go viral.
According to USA Today, Porter received an apology over what had happened from the company that owns the Riverset Apartments, Trilogy Property Management.
Porter later learned through media reports that Walker had been fired by Trilogy from her job as property manager at the apartment complex.
“She has a family I’m sure she has to provide for, so I’m not going to say, ‘Yay. I’m glad she’s gotten fired,’ but I do believe she deserves some consequences after her actions,” Porter told WMC after learning of Walker’s termination.
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Citing the fact that Porter, her boyfriend and the two children were the only black people at the pool, Porter has alleged that they were targeted by Walker for racial reasons.
Whether that is true or not may never be known, but Walker won’t be asking any other families — black or white — to be leaving the apartment complex’s community pool ever again, as her job proved to be the cost of appearing in a viral video alleging racial discrimination at a community pool.