Hilary Brooke Thornton was fired from her job as the manager of a luxury apartment building in St. Louis on October 14. A day previously, D’Arreion Toles uploaded a video to his Facebook page showing Thornton preventing him from entering the downtown St. Louis apartment building where he lives. The video shows Thornton, 32, demanding proof from Toles that he lived in the building. Toles tells Thornton in the video, “You are blocking me into my building. This is my building as well. So, I need you to get out my way.” Thornton also says,” Do you live here? I’m uncomfortable.” Toles replies, “You can be uncomfortable. That’s your discretion. You’re uncomfortable because you’re you.” Thornton has come to be known by the moniker “Apartment Patty.” Thornton said she was taking her dog out to go to the bathroom when she noticed Toles going into the building.
After getting in the front door of the building, Thornton can be seen following Toles to his loft’s front door. Thornton had earlier asked Toles to tell her which apartment was his. When he opened the door to his apartment, Thornton continued to ask Toles who he was. Toles says at one point in the video, “You’re blocking me into my building, it’s my building as well, so can you just get out of my way. I live here and you’re blocking my way. I’ve already buzzed in.”
When Toles got inside his home, Thornton persisted, calling 911. The St. Louis Police Department confirmed that officers responded to the Elder Shirt Loft apartment building in the downtown area of the city on the night in question. NBC St. Louis reports that no official report was written about the incident.
Toles later reflected on the incident saying, “Did this really just happen to me. It happened to me. I am really taken away by the moment.” At the time of writing, the Facebook post has been shared more than 100,000 times. The original video was posted on October 13. It is the latest in a series of viral videos that show white people calling the police on black people for various innocuous acts.
Thornton Worked as a Property Manager But Was Not the Manager of the Building Where the Incident Occurred
Twitter/Hilary Thornton
According to her now-deleted LinkedIn page, Thornton was a senior property manager with Tribeca-STL/STLCityWide. KMOV reports that Thornton was not the manager of the building where the incident occurred. Toles told KMOV, “I am not mad at her. I am not upset with her. I am not going to go after her legally or anything like that. I wish her the best. I would still have a conversation with her.” Speaking separately to NBC St. Louis, “I haven’t nothing bad to say about her. I’m not going to bash her. I have nothing to say about her, not going to go after he legally. Just let her live her life. I’d even have a conversation with her. The only thing I can say is, to everybody else, don’t even spend negative energy that way. Just send her positive vibes. Send her positive vibrations, okay?”
The full statement from the management company read:
Tribeca-STL was recently shared a video containing a disturbing interaction that we believe is important to clarify. The video did involve one our employees, but the event did NOT take place at Tribeca-STL and did NOT involve one of our tenants. The video is showing the employee in her private life at her own residence interacting with another person.
The Tribeca-STL family is a minority-owned company that consists of employees and residents from many racial backgrounds. We are proud of this fact and do not and never will stand for racism or racial profiling at our company.
After a review of the matter, the employee has been terminated and is no longer with our company. At Tribeca-STL we want all residents, guests and visitors to feel welcome, safe and respected.
Thornton Filed for Divorce From Her Husband on October 9
Pinterest/Hilary Brooke Thornton
Thornton is a graduate of Miami University in Ohio where she studied marketing, graduating in 2009. A man who identified himself as Thornton’s former husband, Brandon Mueller, in a video completely disavowed any contact with her in a Facebook post:
Online records show that Thornton filed for divorce on October 9.
D’Arreion Toles Is a Business Owner
Facebook/D’Arreion Nuriyah Toles
According to his LinkedIn page page, D’Arreion Toles is the CEO and owner of Global Wealth Insights Corporation. Toles says on his page that he is a graduate of College of Dupage where he studied Social Sciences, graduating in 2016. Toles’ business is described as “The fasted growing direct marketing group in the Midwest, on their official Facebook page. While on his Facebook page, Toles says he is from Chicago and that he started his company in 2014.
READ NEXT: Michigan School Teachers Admit to Being Porn Stars on the Side