A white man has been charged after his mother called the police on a Black parking attendant because they didn’t believe he was at work.
On Nov. 27, Johnny Martinez says he was minding his business while on the job as a parking attendant for a booting company at a parking garage in Nashville when he noticed two white people watching him from afar. Those two people were Edward Brennan and his mother, Bitsy Brennan.
“What do you want to know about what I’m doing in here?” Martinez is heard questioning Bitsy in a recorded video of the incident. “We just want to know what your job is and why…” replies Bitsy, who Martinez quickly shuts down with “None of your business.” Martinez then walks away, Yahoo! News reports.
Edward then tells Martinez that this isn’t his apartment and threatens to call the police on him. At one point, it’s mentioned in their back and forth that “this is a secure building.” Martinez asks them how they think he was able to get into the building, and suddenly Edward can be seen trying to grab Martinez’s phone. His mother can be heard telling Edward to stop.
“When he attacked me, he swung, he almost hit me in the face,” Martinez told The Daily Beast, Yahoo! News reports. “He broke this bottle opener off of my keys. When I went to go pick it up, he lunged.”
Police responded to the incident after receiving a call from Bitsy. After the event, Martinez took to his YouTube page detailing how he “waited at the property about 40 minutes for Metro PD where I filed a police report and will be pressing charges.” Martinez says the mother and son left the area before the police came.
Now, there’s a warrant out for Edward’s arrest. He’s been charged with assault, citing that “a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative.
