Quote:
Originally Posted by personone
Yeah.....until something happens In college dorms, apartments, or workplaces that require key fobs, security always engrains it into people to not hold the doors open for strangers.
I thought the woman in the video acted like a jerk, and could have avoided the situation by just waiting to exit until he buzzed in. However, the principle of not holding the door for people you don’t know isn’t foreign. That’s what security/police tell you to do. It’s precaution not paranoia.
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This really bugged me because I couldn't figure out how these two people ended up in this messy, sad situation. So I started googling last night on the phone ... and my strong guess is that the problem began with the DOG.
In one interview, she said was
not exiting to walk the dog but that she'd been standing there with the door open. She had one of those extended leashes that allow pets to roam. Apparently, the bloody dog needed to pee.
It sure looks like there wasn't a vestibule but that the door opened directly to the street with the keypad on the building exterior. Some woman who lived in the building had been mugged last year right outside the door.
Now having the exterior door open isn't ideal for security for an open door attracts. For the life of me I couldn't figure out how at least
one of them didn't have had the sense to close the door so he could buzz himself in. Instead this odd conversation ensued - on both their parts for he at times, perhaps upset, seemed to misunderstand her.
If the dog was still outside at the encounter beginning there was no way he could have buzzed himself in an open door. So his expectation that he simply be allowed to enter was
not unreasonable.
There had been a series of memos instructing residents not to allow anyone who they didn't know into the building. So with the door already open (with presumably the dog still outside) she decided to try to establish his ownership. This is why she went down the road of asking to see his key fob.
She may well have viewed him not as a potential fellow resident who entered an outer door to a vestibule expecting to go thru the second ... but as someone literally from the street. Still, she was at fault. What she needed to do was retrieve the dog with a MAJOR apology due to this guy for the delay so he could properly buzz in.
I can understand how frustrating it was for the man, who new to the building and presumably unaware of the mugging and memos to see an open door with a woman standing there who then proceeded to question him.
He became angry and didn't help matters by appearing to "lie" to her about having buzzed himself in. Then pushed his way thru the door. He came thru the door just after he bent down to retrieve some sort of card so maybe she instinctively stepped back providing an opening of sorts. As they reached the elevators, he did say that she could call the police if she wanted. At some point the dog had reentered.
Both appear to be recasting the story a bit in their favor. She's taking no responsibility for standing there with the door open. The memos talk about not letting someone in the building who you do not
know lives there. The memo intent surely was not that she personally establish tenancy (by seeing the key fop). He still maintains that he agreed to show her the fob, which I sure didn't see on the video.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jm1982
He said he’s not going after her legally . But what legal grounds would he have anyways ?
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At one point he said she accused him of assault by pushing his way on in. She denies it. And that he's considering charges about a false accusation.
On the video, all that's heard is her saying "you've got to be kidding" as he pushed by her. Nothing about him touching her. Maybe "assault" is how the police phased it when they responded to her 911 call (or how she described it to the police).
I see this less an issue of racism than two people not communicating and in the end not taking responsibility. If she started this by holding the door open, then the burden was on HER to retrieve the dog with many apologies and explanations. The time to introduce herself as a neighbor was
then not later in the hall. Her tone
was irritating, but then she was also uncomfortable with the video in her face. OTOH, even with an wacky neighbor the final burden always remained on the man to swipe himself in - assuming, of course, that he could with the dog now inside.
For what it's worth, her ex-husband to be (still legally married) is biracial (African-American).