The moment a Black HVAC technician alleges a Minnesota woman phoned the police on him and wrongly accused him of threatening her is captured on a viral TikTok video.
Alonzo Harmon posted the video to TikTok on Wednesday. He recorded it on Nov. 29, 2022, turning the camera on himself while standing outside a garage in Golden Valley, Minnesota, as snow falls, according to The Daily Beast.
The video’s caption, which also includes the hashtag #happyblackhistorymonth, reads, “Here’s a sample of what life is like being a black man in America.”
In the recording, Harmon claims to the camera that Elizabeth, a woman inside the garage, was speaking on the phone with 911. The woman tells police that “he says I’m rude, and he just threatened me right now,” ignoring Harmon’s inquiry about the nature of the threat.
The woman begins to sob hysterically in the next scene of the video as Harmon implies that she is fabricating her tears.
“Please, please, please! I’m so scared right now!” the woman says into the phone. “I’m shaking right now! Please, please! … I’m so scared!”
Harmon said the situation started when he arrived at the client’s house outside Minneapolis to clean the air ducts. He said he immediately sensed something wasn’t right. He noted how the woman cut him off when he tried to explain anything.
“When I entered the home,” Harmon recalled, “the first thing she says to me is, ‘They let you do a job like this?'”
Harmon claimed that once he began working, the woman was constantly behind him, questioning his interest in the position and his competence. He said he laughed off her remarks until, he contended, she told him that she didn’t trust him and that she didn’t believe he worked for the company.
The woman contacted the police after Harmon decided to pack up and leave, telling her she was rude, he claimed.
@lonzogambino Here’s a sample of what life is like being a black man in America 🙇🏾♂️ #fypシ #viral # #happyblackhistorymonth🖤 #karensgoingwild ♬ original sound – ZoDaUno 🥷🏾
When police arrived, they allegedly urged Harmon to leave the scene to defuse the conflict, during which time the woman, who was also yelling at officers, asked if he could stay and finish the job — which Harmon refused.
Harmon said the woman scared him and endangered his life, especially because he was unsure of “what type” of police officers would arrive at the scene.
“She basically was putting my life in danger,” Harmon told The Daily Beast, “just because of what’s going on in the world with Black men and police obviously, police brutality, stuff like that, and just the way that she tried to portray what was going on.”
The Golden Valley Police Department declined to corroborate Harmon’s description of what happened before and after the phone call. However, it did produce a police report indicating two officers arrived at the house and left without taking any further action.
Harmon said he believes the incident was racially motivated, although he did not specify the woman’s race or ethnicity. He did, however, mention a language barrier between them.
“You’re basically grilling me as I approach your home,” Harmon said. “There can’t be any other reason for you to be doing this, you know?”
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