Mom records woman confronting girl, 8 — video goes viral

A video that appeared to show a woman calling the police on an 8-year-old girl selling water outside her SoMa apartment building went viral Saturday after it was posted to Instagram by the girl’s mother — but the woman in the video says she never called the police.

“An 8 year old selling water in front of her apartment building where she’s lived her whole life is NOT a reason to call the Police,” the girl’s mother, identified only as Instagram user @ladyesowavy, wrote in the video caption.

The young girl, who also was not identified, was on the sidewalk Friday with a cooler, calling out, “cold water, two dollars!”

In the video, the woman on the phone, Alison Ettel, walks away and crouches behind a stoop, but is followed by the girl’s mother, filming.

“This woman don’t want to let a little girl sell some water; she be calling police on an 8-yearold

little girl,” the woman filming says as she walks after Ettel. “You can hide all you want; the whole world gon’ see ya, boo.”

“Yeah and, um, illegally selling water without a permit?” Ettel can be heard saying on the phone.

“On my property,” retorts the woman filming.

“It’s not your property,” replied Ettel.

In an interview, Ettel said the girl and her mother had been making noise for several hours and she lost her temper. She said she first tried to get the building’s security to do something, but then got into an argument with the girl’s mother that escalated to the exchange seen in the video. She only pretended to call police, she added.

The woman who filmed the video has since posted to Instagram that police never came on Friday. A spokeswoman for

the San Francisco Police Department said officers have had no recent contact with an 8-yearold girl.

The video was viewed more than 250,000 times in eight hours and has drawn thousands of comments. A version reblogged by trending news account @theshaderoom was viewed more than 1 million times.

Amplified by social justice advocates with large online followings, such as Intercept reporter Shaun King and CNN political commentator Keith Boykin, outrage quickly spread on social media. On Instagram, the video has more than 4,800 comments, most of them angry at Ettel.

The incident comes about a month after a woman called police because two black men were using a charcoal grill at Lake Merritt in Oakland. That incident became a national issue via a widely shared video, fueling a conversation about when it is appropriate to call the police. The woman was later dubbed “BBQ Becky,” inspiring a similar nickname for Ettel, “Permit Patty,” which was first used by the girl’s mother.

Since her name began circulating on the internet, Ettel said she’s received death threats and texts with sexually violent messages, along with people trying to get into her building to confront her.

Ettel said she regrets the incident.

“It was wrong, and I wish I could take it back,” she said. “Believe me, I wish I never had done that.”