A white woman who was recorded calling the police on an 8-year-old girl selling bottled water without a permit says she’s been getting death threats since the incident.
Alison Ettel, dubbed by social media users as “Permit Patty,” told the “Today” show on Monday that she has received thousands of nasty emails and death threats since a video of her was posted online Saturday.
“Horrible, horrible images and death threats. All for something that was an escalated miscommunication between two neighbors,” Ettel said while fighting back tears in the interview.
{mosads}”I tried to be polite, but I was stern,” Ettel said of her composure in the filmed incident. “And I said, ‘Please, I’m trying to work. You’re screaming. You’re yelling, and people have open windows. It’s a hot day. Can you please keep it down?’ “
In the viral video, the girl’s older cousin can be seen following Ettel, who was walking away while talking on the phone. Ettel later said she just “pretended” to call the police on the young girl who was selling water “illegally.”
“This woman don’t wanna let a little girl sell some water,” the cousin said in the video. “She’s calling the police on an 8-year-old little girl.”
When Ettel appears to duck behind a wall, the cousin can be heard telling her she can hide all she wants.
“The world’s gonna see you, boo,” the cousin said.
“Yeah and illegally selling water without a permit,” Ettel says in the video.
The girl’s cousin responds, “On my property.”
Ettel then says, “It’s not your property.”
The 15-second video has garnered more than 7.21 million views as of Monday afternoon.
Ettel has since said that she is not proud of how she handled the Saturday incident and has publicly apologized to little girl and her mother for the incident she contends “has no racial component to it.”
According to NBC News, the little girl’s family has refused to accept Ettel’s apology.