A man has been fired after he was filmed questioning a black family for using a private community pool.
Adam Bloom went viral after he was filmed challenging Jasmine Edwards over whether she and her young child were allowed to use the pool in Winston, Salem. As well as confronting Jasmine, he also called the police.
In the footage, which Jasmine uploaded to Facebook on 4 July, the pair can be heard speaking to the attending officers. She tells the cops that Bloom singled out her and her son and asked for their ID. Bloom, who was 'chairman of the pool' but has resigned from the homeowners' association board, argues that he checks residents ID 'a couple of times' a week.
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Once the cops determine that Jasmine is allowed to use the pool, they apologised and leave. This prompts Jasmine to ask Bloom for an apology, however, he simply walks away.
A furious Jasmine uploaded the clip to her Facebook page, writing: "This is a classic case of racial profiling in my half a million $$ neighborhood pool. This happened to me and my baby today. What a shame!!"
The clip has been seen over four million times and it wasn't long before people began reaching out to Bloom's place of work, a company called Sonoco, on social media.
In a statement the company wrote: "We are aware of a terrible incident involving the actions of one of our employees outside the workplace."
Before adding that the 'employee is no longer employed by the company in any respect'.
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The spokesperson also sent their apologies to Jasmine for the incident.
The Glenridge Homeowners Association said Bloom had resigned - a statement read: "We sincerely regret that an incident occurred yesterday at our community pool that left neighbors feeling racially profiled.
"In confronting and calling the police on one of our neighbors, the pool chair escalated a situation in a way that does not reflect the inclusive values Glenridge seeks to uphold as a community."
John Vermitsky, a lawyer working on behalf Bloom, told the New York Post his client called the police to make sure things didn't 'escalate' adding: "Unfortunate that conclusions are being reached by people who have seen a 46-second video of their interaction."
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Source: New York Post
Featured Image Credit: Facebook