A San Francisco cannabis businesswoman who allegedly called the police on an 8-year-old girl for selling water outside AT&T Park is causing a stir on Twitter, where she is being identified as #PermitPatty.
In a video first posted to Instagram by the girl’s cousin, Raj, or @_ethiopiangold, early Saturday, the girl’s mother confronts the woman, who is white, while she is on the phone and appears to be on hold. Afterward, the woman, identified as Alison Ettel of Treatwell Health, a San Francisco cannabis-tincture company with options for pets, ducks behind a retaining wall.
So my little cousin was selling water and didn't have a permit so this lady decided to call the cops on an 8 year old. #PermitPatty pic.twitter.com/SiL61pnAgl
— la madrina ???? (@_ethiopiangold) June 23, 2018
“You can hide all you want,” the mother says. “The whole world gonna see you, boo.”
Ettel responds, “And illegally selling water without a permit?”
Then the mother notes that the water being sold is on her property. Ettel responds “it’s not your property.”
Shortly after the video was posted, people began drawing comparisons to #BBQBecky, or Jennifer Schulte, who became widely known in late April when a video of her calling the police on a group of black people barbecuing at Lake Merritt in Oakland vent viral.
By Sunday, the video had been viewed millions of times and re-tweeted by people as far away as Brooklyn, New York and high-profile Tweeters, like Intercept reporter Shaun King. Raj, the girl’s cousin, did not respond to a message sent asking for comment.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Ettel, who says she had received death threats since the incident hit social media, explained that her anger stemmed from work stress and loud noise that the girl and her mother were making.
“It was wrong and I wish I could take it back,” she said. “Believe me, I wish I never had done that.”
Ettel told the Chronicle that she never called the police. She was on the phone trying to reach her building’s security contact.