A viral video, posted by the mother of the teen in the clip, shows a group of adult white men following her Black son in Sarasota , Florida , as the teen talked on the phone with his girlfriend, eventually getting in-step with him before allegedly harassing him about why he was there.
In the three-minute video posted by Whitney Portela, The group continued to allegedly harass him about why he was in the neighborhood walking around, before one of them appeared to get something out of his passenger seat to confront the teen, before his friend stopped him. It's not clear on camera what he had in his backseat.
Police are officially investigating the matter. The video is embedded below.
Portela's son shows himself on camera, immediately swerving around so that a white man in a blue T-shirt, white hat, and large sweat stain on his chest standing behind him is visible. Then, he turns to another guy on a bike next to him. A third man in a grey T-shirt walks on his other side, arms crossed.
The shocking video shook the internet, with Sarasota PD promising to investigate the matter. "The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office is aware of a video circulating on various social media platforms of an incident that occurred in the Skye Ranch neighborhood on Thursday, October 10. Detectives have been assigned and are actively locating and interviewing witnesses in what appears to be an altercation involving neighbors and a male subject who was recording himself as he was walking."
"The sheriff’s office takes these matters seriously and will fully investigate any allegations of criminal activity. If anyone has any information regarding this incident, please contact the sheriff’s office at 941-316-1201 or our Investigations Bureau at 941-861-4900."
While the original video is now hard to find on Facebook, others have reposted it, including Instagram user thatdaneshguy, who filmed himself pointing out the crucial moments in the teen's walk.
The man on the bike appears to ask, 'What's going on, buddy?' as the teen shakes his head.
On his other side, he shows another man, who tells him, "I've never seen you before, and you're walking around my house... You've walked past my house four times and I don't know you."
The teen says he does live in the neighborhood, but wouldn't tell the men where. They continued to try to tell him he 'doesn't belong,' and that they've 'never seen' him before. They follow him down several blocks before another of the group drives by him again, then gets out of the driver's seat and goes around the car and appears to grab something from the passenger's seat but is blocked by one of the other men wearing a light blue t-shirt. He appears to be holding down his friend's arm.
"The morning aftermath of Hurricane Milton, my son wanted to walk the neighborhood to talk to his girlfriend on his phone because we didn't have power so his service was bad in the house. This is what he had to deal with. Even after telling these men he lives here, they were not satisfied with his answer and continued to harass him," Portela wrote on her Facebook post along with the video on October 15.
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