White New York socialite calls police on black woman for sitting on a bench
A white New York socialite called the police "multiple times" on a black woman, falsely accusing her of harassment.
Svitlana Flom was filmed telling police that the woman was "threatening" and 'harassing" her, claims which the video does not support.
The NYPD spoke to Flom and the woman she reported, with no arrests made.
In the video, Flom can be heard telling police that the woman was "playing the black card" during their confrontation and described her as "African American". She went on to say:
I'm shaking, I'm pregnant. This is unacceptable. I want this video to be gone.
Flom also appears to ask the woman to go and talk to the police with her, to which she responded "can you imagine that? If Bozo was a person, it would be you".
The woman also commented that Flom's problem with her was that she was sitting "comfortably" in her "neighbourhood".
The incident took place in the affluent upper west side of New York City.
Svitlana Flom is a restaurateur while her husband, Gary Flom, is a millionaire businessman and former president and CEO of Jaguar Land Rover Manhattan. Gary Flom was also filmed during the incident, and appears to walk away from his wife.
Svitlana Flom co-owns French restaurant chain Maison Vivienne.
The video is just the latest example of a white person phoning the police to report a black person without justification. Recently, a white woman phoned the police on a black bird-watcher because he asked her to put her dog on a leash.
The potential harm of phoning the police on a black person going about their business is only amplified by the recent protests against racist police brutality.
People called out the Flom's "blatant racism".
In case any other white people need a reminder: it's not a crime to exist while black.