White man tells 15-year-old black girl 'you don't belong', threatens her with arrest for living in same community
A white man from Florida was seen threatening three teenage girls including a black teenager, telling them they did not "deserve" to be in his gated community.
The 60-year-old man who has not yet been identified got into a confrontation with the teenage girls on Sunday, June 14. The altercation happened in the Grand Isles complex in Wellington which is a village in Palm Beach County. The man was recorded in a short 90-second video that went viral across Twitter and has been viewed more than 282,000 times as of Thursday, June 18. The man can be heard telling the girls, "You don’t belong in this development."
Click to see the video here.
The video clip starts just before 15-year-old Breonna Nelson Hicks rushes in to get her grandfather Tony Nelson. A long time resident, Nelson, 62, who is also the grandfather of one of the girls, said, "It's not going away. I can't let it die. ... People aren't understanding what's going on." Nelson's granddaughter Breonna had rushed back home and was visibly scared, Nelson said.
Breonna and four friends had been riding in a golf cart on June 14 afternoon, they told The Palm Beach Post, when the man began tailgating them. When they pulled over to let him pass, they told Nelson later — after a stop at the guard gate — he instead got out and started yelling. The boys fled the scene scared by the confrontative male. The three girls walked home. But the man wasn't letting them go, he followed them in his car all the way to Nelson’s house, where he confronted them.
The man asks the teens, "What’s your name?” and "OK, where do you live?" One of the girls, who are white, then responds saying, "Why would we tell you any of this? We live here. I live here.”
The man then says, "OK, not a problem. I’m going to call the gate and have you all arrested. You do not deserve to be in here."
One of the girls wonders out loud and asks, "What did we even do wrong?" Breonna then addresses the man and asks, "Do you have a problem? Because I can get my grandfather." The man barks at her, "Bring him out right now!"
A neighbor who had heard the commotion had come out of her house and was heard telling the girls not to argue because "it's not worth it" as Breonna gets her grandpa. The irate man cuts in and says, "It is because you’re driving illegally."
One of the girls can be heard saying, "OK but you’re coming at a 15-year-old." The man then comes up with the most bizarre response ever and says, "Because you’re 15 years old? You could marry in Mississippi or Alabama." Not to be taken lightly, one of the girls in the group very matter-of-factly points out to the man: “This isn’t Mississippi or Alabama. This is Florida."
Breonna's granddad, Nelson, then steps out of the house and the man sticks out his hand and walks towards him. Nelson tells the man, "Don’t stick your hand out. Did you threaten a child?" Fumbling, the man denies the accusation saying: "I did not threaten, I did not threaten a child."
While doing an interview with The Palm Beach Post, Nelson said he continued to speak to the man who said he lived a few streets over. Nelson again told him, "You threatened these kids" as the man tried to defend himself. He had also spoken about apologizing to the teens. However, Nelson said it was too late and the damage was already done. "You were totally inappropriate and you scared the girls," Nelson said.
Both Nelson and the man filed reports with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Spokeswoman Teri Barbera said, "We received two calls and when the deputies arrived, the male had already gone home. Deputies did speak to the juveniles and made contact with the male the next day. Based on both accounts no crime was committed."