The Conversation (0)
News
Greg Evans
Oct 14, 2018
A few days ago, a black man in Atlanta, Georgia was approached by police after a white woman reported because he was babysitting two white children.
The woman who has not been identified is said to have approached Corey Lewis in the parking lot of a Walmart store and asked the 10-year-old girl and six-year-old boy if they were OK.
Lewis dismissed her and told the kids not to talk to her. This then led to the woman following him home to an Atlanta suburb where she asked the police to do a welfare check on the children.
Lewis recorded a video of him talking to the police which he then shared on Facebook and it quickly went viral.
Now the 911 call of the woman has been obtained by local news station WSB-TV. This is what she told the police:
Hi there, I’m in the Walmart parking lot at Barrett Parkway and I just got my nails done and I see this black gentleman with these two little white kids and so I just had a funny feeling.
Maybe he knows their mom, I don’t know, but I don’t know that he knows them.
She then goes on to explain how she approached the children and the brief exchange she had with 27-year-old Lewis.
And I said, ‘Are these kids OK? Do you know these kids?’
And he goes, `Why wouldn’t I?’ and I said, `I wouldn’t know,’
'Let me see the little girl' and he said, `No.’ ‘Let me see the girl and just see that she knows you.
The dispatcher had advised her not to follow Lewis home but she defined those words.
Throughout the phone call she explains that should would have felt guilty if she didn't do anything.
It could be nothing but I’m not sure and I figured, let me call up. And again, if I didn’t do this, I’d be up all night.
If I'm wrong, that's great. I'm thrilled, but if I'm not, you know, then these kids are OK.
It was eventually concluded by the Cobb Country Sherrif's deputy that there was nothing illegal happening in this circumstance.
Lewis, who runs a mentoring programme for young people called 'Inspired by Lewis,' has said that he doesn't want an apology from the woman but does hope that she will come to visit his business to see the work that he does.
The parents of the two children he was caring for, David Parker and Dana Mango, believe that Lewis was a victim of racial profiling from the caller.
More: Children left ‘scared’ by police visit after white woman called 911 on black babysitter