White woman accused of telling black couple to ‘stay in their hood’ is fired
A white woman who allegedly threatened to call police on a black couple in a Brooklyn dog park — while telling them to “stay in [your] hood” — has been fired from her job, her former employer said.
Emma Sarley, who was identified by the other dog owner, Frederick Joseph, as the woman filmed in the confrontation in McCarren Park in Williamsburg, had worked for the virtual conference software platform Bevy, according to her deleted LinkedIn page.
“@BevyHQ has zero tolerance for discriminatory behavior of any kind. Yesterday an employee engaged in behavior contrary to our values and has been terminated. We apologize deeply to all involved,” CEO Derek Andersen wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
“I personally hope some type of resolution can happen between the two parties beyond this and will help if I can,” he added.
Joseph, the man who was involved in the altercation with Sarley, reacted to the decision.
“I’ve been told that @DerekjAndersen and @bevyhq have let go of Emma Sarley, as her racism against me and fiancé doesn’t align with their values. I hope this is a lesson in accountability and consequences for Emma and others,” he wrote on Twitter.
Joseph had claimed that the woman had confronted him and his fiancée as they were leaving the dog park Saturday.
“At the dog park in Brooklyn with my fiancé and this white woman was threatening to call police and told us to ‘stay in our hood’ because she had our dog confused with another dog who had been barking loudly,” Joseph wrote on Twitter.
Footage posted by him to Twitter showed the woman trying to hit his phone and then giving him the finger.
“You just left the dog park to tell us to stay in our hood?” Joseph could then be heard saying.
“Oh my God, did you just say that to me? S–t,” the woman said.
Joseph then turned to another man nearby and asked, “I’m sorry, you were right here and watched this whole thing. Did she not just stand here and tell us to stay in our hood?”
“She did,” the man replied.
Joseph’s video did not capture what led up to the confrontation.
Sarley could be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
Her former employer said he had been in touch with Joseph about the incident.
“Spoke with @FredTJoseph about his and his fiancé’s horrific experience from last night. So sorry to them for what has happened. No one should treat people the way we witnessed. This is extremely troubling,” Anderson wrote on Twitter.
The NYPD said it was looking into the incident.
