PHOENIX – An Arizona man was arrested Saturday after a viral video posted on social media showed him telling a black man that he was in an “N-word zone. “
Andre Abram, who is passing through LILAJDRE on Instagram and YouTube, preparing to record a video in Old Town Scottsdale when a man, later known as Paul Ng, took an image of him and approached him to ask him. what he does in the area.
Abram recording, and Ng said, “I’m a racist,” and abram shouldn’t be in the domain “because it’s a wordless domain. “
The video garnered more than 182,000 views on Instagram Monday night and was shared via prominent activist Shaun King.
“I would say my first reaction was a shock,” Abram told The Arizona Republic. “I felt incredulous to hear the words I hear. It was a moment that literally baffled my brain, and I still was doing it at the time. “
In the video, Abram misunderstood Ng and said he owned a store in front of which they were, River Trading Post. But Ng has nothing to do with the store, and workers say they sympathize with Abram but are now struggling to protect their reputation.
The video shows Ng, who is Asian, approaching the camera near Main Street and Marshall Way around 7 a. m. October 23.
Abram, who records on his phone, asks him what he is and why he is approaching him and his friend, Kane Tinkham.
Ng tells Abram there’s no and keeps asking what he’s taking pictures of.
“Why is this your business?” Ask Abram.
Ng tells Abram that this is his house, to which Abram replies, “Okay, mine too,” and says he also lives in Scottsdale as he asks Ng why he takes pictures of himself.
“Well, you know what, I had disorders here,” Ng says.
“I don’t care,” Abram. No you know me, why are you taking my picture?And I don’t know him, you know that a lot of white men do racist things in this world, sir?
Ng says he doesn’t do it until he puts himself on and says, “I’m a racist. “
“Are you a racist?” Abram asks Ng to repeat his order.
Abram tells Ng that he is fine and continues to ask him why he approached him.
“Because it’s an area without (N-word),” Ng says.
“Not really, ” said Abram.
Ng goes on to claim that Abram does not live in the domain when Abram says he will continue to record the video he intended to make and that Ng may not prevent it.
Ng says he’s fine and asks Abram what he needs me to say.
“I don’t need to hear you don’t say anything, ” said Abram.
Abram then in his own chamber and tells the viewer that Ng would “sleep” if it touched him or Tinkham.
“You’re pretty small,” Ng says, walking away.
“It’s good,” Abram. No you should think I’m small enough, honey.
Abram then says he is a well-known YouTuber and points to the camera through a company called River Trading Post, where Ng is seen as a leaf blower.
In the heat of the moment, Abram misunderstood that Ng appeared in his apartment and said Ng owned the store downstairs.
After receiving business calls about the incident, a police officer visited Ng at his home and asked him what had happened that night, according to a police report.
Ng told police that he suspected Abram and Tinkham because they had an expensive camera and that the car they arrived in had a Michigan license plate, so he took pictures of both and texted local business owners.
The report says Ng told the officer that he was watching the community before talking about the Black Lives Matter motion and “Antifa” – short for anti-phasists, far-left militant teams that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists – while a photo of Abram had taken it on his phone.
He then told the detective that he hoped bad things would happen from November 1 and that he “is only starting with an advantage,” according to the report.
The officer questioned Ng at his home on Saturday night and asked if he understood how his comments could cause a fight. Reports imply that Ng said he did not believe his comments were incendiary and that he believed Abram was “mapping the place” and a component of a “reconnaissance team. “
“I asked him if Paul understood how there might be a drop in the comments and Paul said he understood but didn’t see why there was so much power over the incident,” the report said. “Paul was sure the incident would have gone and forgotten in a week. “
The officer then arrested Ng and charged him with two counts of disorderly conduct: felonies.
Arrest documents show that Ng processed and released under his own acknowledgement after receiving a subpoena for criminals.
Ng can be contacted for comments on Monday night.
In a telephone interview with The Arizona Republic on Monday, Abram said it was neither noisy nor belligerent and that he was unsure of any action he had taken that caught Ng’s attention.
Abram, who has a YouTube account with more than 94,000 followers, said he was recording a video in Scottsdale for his circle of relatives in Detroit who had never noticed a palm tree.
Although deeply disappointed by Ng’s words, he said that many black men experienced what happened without filming or having a giant platform to focus on, and sought to seize the opportunity to hammer the fact that such a remedy was not OKAY.
“I need Paul to realize that we weren’t there to harm anyone,” Abram said, “we weren’t there to cause destruction. “
Instead, Abram said he was there to motivate and entertain other people and hoped that Ng and others sharing similar perspectives would understand that his habit was unacceptable.
Abram’s lawyer, Taylor’s Benjamin Taylor
Kathi Ouellet, the executive leader of River Trading Post, told The Republic that she was horrified and condemned what Ng had said, but said she had no connection to the company except that she lives in a condominium that is part of the same building.
“It’s affiliated with this company in any way, form or form,” Ouellet said. “He’s an employee. He owns it. He just owns the condo upstairs. “
The company sells pieces such as carpets and ceramics that it buys from Native Americans.
Ouellet said he contacted Abram after watching the video and told him that she and the company were not affiliated. Abram responded after discovering he was right and posted another post on Instagram.
“AFTER RECEIVING THE FACTS!! THE RIO TRADE IS NOT IMPLIED !!!,” Abram wrote with a screenshot of The River Trading Post’s Instagram page.
The following symbol shows a screenshot of Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty, a luxury real estate corporation in Arizona.
The company posted on Instagram on Sunday that Ng had been fired.
“An independent contractor recently filmed making racist comments,” the article says. “Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty does not tolerate this type of behavior in any way. This user has been rejected with immediate effect”.
The company issued an additional message condemning Ng’s movements and said it recommended that the Arizona Department of Real Estate revoke its real estate license.
Ouellet said he won an avalanche of phone calls and social media posts that criticized the company, and some threatened to attack or bomb the building.
During an interview at the store on Monday, Ouellet had to disconnect the landline to prevent the phone from steadily sounding.
Ouellet said he heard about 60 voicemails from other people attacking the company before converting the voicemail explaining that the company was not related to Ng.
She hopes other people will realize that she and her store can’t tolerate racism.
Follow Perry Vandell on Twitter @PerryVandell.