D’Arreion Toles returned home to his St. Louis Elder Shirt Loft on Friday night, when a white woman blocked him from entering his apartment, according to the New York Times. Toles recorded and posted to Facebook two days later of the exchange between him and Hilary Brooke Mueller. She can be seen demanding proof that he lives in their building.
“Please move, ma’am,” Toles said in the video, which has since garnered over six million views and over 142,888 shares on Facebook.
“I can. Do you live here?” Mueller responded, asking repeatedly to see his key in order to enter his apartment.
“I’ve already answered that question. Excuse me. … You’re blocking me,” Toles told her.
Toles eventually gain access to his apartment after showing his key fob, but the woman called the police on him 30 minutes later as she said she felt “uncomfortable” with him in the building. He told the New York Times that the entire experience left him thinking “like you can’t be who you are in America.”
Toles was afraid the situation would have turned dangerous. “At the end of the day, why would she call the police on me? I just walked in and went to my house,” Toles said. It reminded him of the white, off-duty police officer in Dallas, Texas who killed an African American man in his own home.
Mueller was fired from her realtor job on Sunday. Mueller’s employer issued this statement, according to People, “After a review of the matter the employee has been terminated and is no longer with our Company. At Tribeca-STL we want all residents, guests and visitors to feel welcome, safe and respected.”