The Province

Call the water cops!

-

A California woman is receiving death threats after a viral video showed her reportedly calling the cops on an 8-year-old black girl selling bottled water.

In a video that’s been viewed more than 900,000 times on Instagram, Alison Ettel is seen on her cellphone on a San Francisco street reportedly calling police on the girl who was supposedly selling water illegally.

The video showed Ettel approachin­g the girl asking the youth for a permit. That’s when the girl’s mother, Erin Austin stepped in.

“This woman don’t (sic) wanna let a little girl sell some water,” Austin can be heard saying in the video, that she reportedly filmed. “She calling the police on an 8-year-old little girl.”

Austin told USA Today her daughter, Jordan, was selling the water to raise money to go to Disneyland. Austin said she recently lost her job and couldn’t afford tickets. Jordan was selling water bottles outside the family’s apartment building — directly across from AT&T Stadium — in hopes of catching thirsty San Francisco Giants fans.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Ettel said there was no racial motivation behind it, noting she only “pretended” to call the cops.

The video went viral on social media with people calling Ettel #PermitPatt­y.

In a somewhat happy ending to the story, Austin posted on Instagram that someone touched by the story purchased four tickets to Disneyland for Jordan.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada