Video of a white woman allegedly calling the police on a young black girl who was selling water bottles in San Francisco has gone viral. The child's mother, Erin Austin, posted the video on her Instagram account. In it, she follows a woman named Alison Ettel, who is holding a phone to her ear.
Austin, who recently lost her job, told All the Moms that her 8-year-old daughter Jordan was trying to raise money because she wanted to go to Disneyland.
Jordan was selling the water bottles outside the family's apartment building, which is across the street from AT&T Stadium, where the Giants were playing.
Caught off guard when Ettel approached 8-year-old Jordan for a permit, Austin told the blog that she intervened.
"This woman don't wanna let a little girl sell some water," Austin can be heard saying. "She calling the police on an 8-year-old little girl."
Ettel then ducks behind a brick structure, appearing to hide.
Austin follows her with the camera, telling her the whole world is going to see her.
Ettel says the little girl is "illegally selling water without a permit." It's unclear whether she's speaking to the cops or to Austin.
"On my property," Austin says.
"It's not your property," Ettel responds before the video ends.
In the video caption, she asked people to make the woman go viral under the hashtag "#permitpatty."
As of Sunday morning, the video had more than 864,000 views and #PermitPatty trended on Twitter.
This is the latest in a series of incidents where white people have called the police on black people in public parks, coffee shops and other spaces.
Austin's cousin, Raje Lee, who posted about the incident on Twitter said her cousin was gifted four tickets to Disneyland by a man who heard about the story.
She posted a video to Twitter of her cousin's elated response:
Austin said she and her family have received a large amount of positivity and support.
For her part, Ettel also told Huffington Post that she had only "pretended" to call the police.
When asked about Ettel telling Huffington Post she felt bad about the situation, Austin told USA Today she didn't accept any apology.
"She did it to herself," she said.
