Woman who blocked black man from entering his own apartment defends her actions

[Judi Lynn]

Source: The Hill

BY ARIS FOLLEY - 10/17/18 07:13 PM EDT

A Missouri woman is defending her actions after getting fired from her job over the weekend over a viral video surfaced showing her trying to stop a black man from entering his own apartment building.

In an interview with a local Fox News affiliate released on Tuesday, Hilary Mueller, born Hilary Thornton, said she doesn’t think she did “anything wrong” in a video that shows her stopping a black man, D’Arreion Toles, from entering his apartment building last Friday.

In the video recorded on Toles’ phone, Mueller can be seen standing in the doorway of the apartment complex as the man tries to enter the building. She repeatedly asks Toles what unit he lives in as Toles asks her to move out of his way.

"To Be A Black man in America, & Come home," Toles wrote in a Facebook post that also included a video of the encounter.

Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/411965-woman-who-blocked-black-man-from-entering-his-own-apartment

---

[still_one]

1. she doesn't think she did anything wrong? Another racist rears their ugly head in the era of trump

[joshdawg]

2. Yep. Thanks to trump,

they are coming out of the woodwork.

[Lucky Luciano]

3. Wow. Doubling down. Her landlord (or homeowners association)

...should have her kicked out of the apartment.

Can she also be charged with harassment?

[blue cat]

5. The man didn't want charges against her n/t

[avebury]

29. That was a mistake on his part.

Maybe if people start demanding that charges be pressed against these racist a**holes then racist a**holds might think twice about harassing people of other color/sexual orientation/religious beliefs and so on.

Actions must face consequences. The lack of this is why this country is in the horrendous condition it is in.

[IronLionZion]

4. Many racists don't think of themselves as racist

ignorance is bliss

[NickB79]

6. She called the police AFTER he entered his own apartment unit

In the video he recorded, you don't see her on her phone calling police. You do see her confronting and following him to his unit. That means, even after she saw he had the correct fob key, confirming he was a resident, she still felt she was somehow in the right and called the cops.

[MaryMagdaline]

8. I also noticed her little dog never barked

Doubtful she felt uncomfortable if her dog approved of the guy.

She was just angry that the man did not follow her instructions. She showed him

[JonLP24]

9. I agree

If she was uncomfortable I don't think she would follow him inside an elevator.

[greatbaldeagle]

10. This is the key!

After he "proved" that he was a resident she still called the police. This point alone proves that she had bad intentions. If her whole argument is that she just wanted to be sure he was a resident, the situation would have ended when he walked into his unit. She got what she deserved.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

7. Shovel, meet hole.

She'll probably be keynote speaker at the next National Association for the Advancement of White People convention.

[mikeysnot]

30. Build Your Own Free Website!

Sure hope this is a parody or someone real cheap and stupid.

[-Steph-]

11. When I initially heard about this, and watched the video of the incident I was absolutely horrified

at what I was seeing. However, she claims that the condo association had regularly drilled into their heads not to ever let anyone follow them in, or allow someone entry they didn't recognize. She was able to provide some proof of that via emails the condo association had sent to her, and another resident of the building also confirmed this to be the case. He was new to the building, so she wouldn't have recognized him. So was she just purely being racist or was she following strict orders from the condo association? Or perhaps a combination of both?

Her estranged husband is half black, so I don't think she's some card carrying member of the KKK. However, even if she were just following orders from the condo association, she could have still handled it sooo much better. At the same time, he would have also been told by the condo association of their policy of not letting anyone follow them in, or allowing entry to anyone they don't recognize.. so how come he didn't just show her his key fob, or let himself in with the code, since he actually would have known how strict the condo association is about that? Or even just because it was the middle of the night and she was a female alone and possibly scared?

I don't know, now that I have more information about the situation, part of me feels like they both could have handled that differently.

[JonLP24]

12. He did show the key fob

He said he buzzed himself in. She could have backed the fuck off and let him get in by himself. He doesn't owe her an explanation and I wouldn't feel comfortable telling her where I live. He was just trying to go home which she followed him and he went into his own apartment he gave her GREAT advice "don't ever do that again." And she still called the police.

[-Steph-]

13. It was my understanding that he didn't show the key fob or buzz himself in. That she was taking her

dog out to use the restroom and he tried coming in as she was opening the door, without using his key fob?

[JonLP24]

15. He did buzz himself in you didn't watch the video

He says so in the video. During that 10 minute interrogation he did show her.

I once had a storage locker I walked in as someone was driving out the guy was yelling and harassing me but I owned a storage she'd he wasn't the owner. Neither is she
He doesn't owe her an explanation and she could have closed the door backed out. He was coming inside the same time she was exitinf. So what? He did buzz in prior to that point and he did show her at the door.

She didn't work there but she did get fired by the place she works at.

[-Steph-]

16. I just re-watched her interview and she said she had the door cracked because she was letting

the dog out and he tried opening the cracked door (without a key fob) so she asked him if he lived there and to see his key fob (the only way to identify someone is a resident). He didn't ever show her his key fob, except when he got to his door to unlock it. I'm not saying she handled things correctly. What I'm saying is maybe this isn't entirely about race in this one instance as there is proof her condo is extremely strict about this exact thing.

[JonLP24]

17. Did you watch his video?

He filmed the whole thing you realize that right?

Mueller could have avoided all of this by simply telling Toles she was following the condo association rules and he would have to use his own fob. She could have then closed the door and allowed him to open it himself using his fob.

Instead, she deputized herself in white privilege, engaged in power-signaling and harassed a fellow tenant of her building. She followed him onto an elevator, down a hall to his apartment and then still called the police to say that she was uncomfortable with him being there.

Mueller also whined about being called a racist for her actions.

“That is absolutely false and heartbreaking and those are words that truly cut deep,” she said.

It’s hard to believe Mueller would have taken the same actions had Toles been a white man. It’s doubtful she would have followed him onto an elevator and down the hall to his apartment, even if she did do the initial door check to “follow the directions.”

https://www.theroot.com/white-woman-who-blocked-black-neighbor-from-entering-ap-1829822500

[-Steph-]

19. I did watch his video and he didn't show her the key fob until he was unlocking his door. The

door was cracked open and if you watch the video he actually shoved his way in instead of just pulling out his key fob to enter the building, which he could have easily done. I don't know, I just personally think they both could have handled this differently.

[NickB79]

32. He unlocked his own apt door with his fob

And THEN she called the police, after he proved to her he lived there.

I'll give you that she had a bit of plausibility up to that moment. Then, she pissed it all away and showed her true colors.

[-Steph-]

33. You may be right. Either way, she's definitely in the wrong.

[Aristus]

14. "Ahm white; he's uh neegra. That means Ah dint do nuthin' rawng!"

That's what she really means...

[Odoreida]

18. Forgive me if this is a naive question but ...

Racial analysis of the situation aside, isn't it a crime to file a false police report?

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

20. RULES LIKE THAT only mean dont hold the door open for someone you dont know, not that you have to

be the gestapo or check IDs or get into a physical altercation to evict or block someone from entering.

Our office bldg. has such a rule. The idea that I would have to serve as the police or security guard is ridiculous.

[-Steph-]

21. In emails she was sent from the condo association, it seems they had been having some issues with

people who had no reason to be inside the building coming in, and then hanging out or sleeping in communal spaces inside the building. So residents were repeatedly told not to be letting people in they didn't recognize and not to allow people to follow them in the building. I guess because she had the door partially opened because she was entering or exiting with her dog, he just tried to come in that way instead of using his key, as anyone would if the door is already partly open. You wouldn't just for fun wait for it to close and then have to get out your key.

Instead of just letting him on through, she stopped in the doorway and tried to find out if he lived there and had a key fob. He refused to show his key fob and she refused to budge, so he pushed his way in. Now, was she doing that just because he was black or was it because of the repeated emails from the condo association? I feel like in this one instance, I actually don't know if it was just because of his race. Her estranged husband is half black, although that doesn't necessarily mean she couldn't still be racist to some extent or racial profile people.

What I do know is that she didn't need to follow him around the building. But I also wonder why he didn't just pull out his key fob to show her, being that he would have also most likely been aware there had been people coming in the building who weren't supposed to?

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

22. What difference does it make what his attitude was - she has no authority legal or otherwise to

detain anyone for questioning or physically block access to anywhere. The onus is on the apartment management to hire an actual security guard if the place is that overridden with homeless people and other undesireables.

And yeah - racial profiling. Im not the most aware person (having grown up in 50s-60s in all white places and still don't have many black acquaintances) but even I can pretty much tell a black man who is homeless and/or mentally ill, from one who is working class/ blue collar from one who is middle class or even wealthy - yeah believe it or not they do exist!

[-Steph-]

24. I'm not saying she had any authority to detain someone. I'm saying due to the circumstances

I can't personally make a determination that she did what she did because of his race, or because it was the middle of the night and she didn't recognize him as someone who lived there (he was new to the building). I'm not saying it's right either way.

[LanternWaste]

25. When he did arrive at, and entered his own apartment though,

what specific (and practical) reason other than racism or privilege would she have to remain outside his door and call law enforcement?

It would have become obvious to anyone who's not an idiot or a racist that entering his apartment would settle any and everything.

[-Steph-]

27. Anger that she didn't get her way, or that he shoved past her, or that he was recording her.

And I'm not saying the entire incident wasn't due to racism either. It could have been. I'm just saying because there were other circumstances I personally just don't know one way or the other. But either way I think what she did was wrong.

[Quixote1818]

35. If he had done the same thing to her and followed her to her room what do you think

would have happened to him? Police would have arrived and arrested him or worse shot him.

[-Steph-]

36. Oh, if he had done that to her she would have been on the phone with the police in an instant and

he would be in jail or worse. I don't doubt that at all. I knew a biracial person that was on parole for drug related offenses. He had a curfew he had to be in by, and he missed a meeting with his parole officer and his curfew, and the parole officer had an officer hunt him down, and when the officer found him (standing in an apartment complex parking lot), the guy tried to run and the officer shot him in the back and killed him.... for missing curfew. This person wasn't a violent offender, and was unarmed. He didn't threaten the officer verbally or physically. He wasn't even facing the officer, hence being shot in the back and not the front. These things happen way more often than most people realize, and way more often than what makes the national news.

[Javaman]

23. trying her best to explain away her obvious racism. nt

[SWBTATTReg]

28. Absolutely right. What gets me, is that if she was living there too, why didn't she know ...

him already? Or at least recognized him from before, walking around the apartment grounds, etc.? Did she happen to crawl out from underneath a rock all of a sudden and see this guy?

I imagine that if it was a white person doing the same thing as this victim here, it wouldn't have happened.

Nothing like benefit of the doubt on her part eh? Nothing like showing your fellow man the benefit of the doubt and trust. Someone who is obviously trying to get into the building so blatantly should have obviously considered a renter wouldn't one logically think?

[Gothmog]

26. This lady deserved to be fired

[LiberalLovinLug]

31. Count on a Fox News affiliate to bring her back one on one to "humanize" her.

Give the poor persecuted white woman a chance to try to defend herself.

[Cold War Spook]

34. She didn't recognize him.

How many Blacks live in that building?