Building manager appears to call police on Black resident

‘I just wanted to see what apartment you’re in,’ the building manager asks, with two police officers beside him

Police and a building manager question a Black resident at the Hamilton Cove apartment complex in Weehawken, New Jersey (TikTok / @beautifulsoulsinnyc)

A Black resident of a New Jersey building is furious after an apartment manager appeared to call the police on him – and his 1.5 million TikTok followers are angry too.

The resident, who goes by Mr NYC on TikTok, captured the incident in a video that has since gone viral.

“Building manager @HamiltonCoveapts called the cops on me for [working out] in the gym in a building where I live & pay rent at,” the TikTokker says in the caption.

In the video, Mr NYC appears to be in the gym of the building – Hamilton Cove in Weehawken, New Jersey – as two police officers approach him. After one officer introduces himself, he motions to a man in a blue suit, who he says is the manager.

Mr NYC, clearly irritated, demands an explanation.

“So what happened, manager?” he asks. “You called the cops on me after what?”

“I just wanted to see what apartment you’re in,” the manager answers.

Mr NYC then tells police that the manager only asked this question of Black residents, “skipping” the white people at the gym. As he becomes increasingly angry, an officer tries to calm him down.

“It’s OK,” the officer says.

“It’s not OK!” Mr NYC snaps back. “You don’t call the cops on residents. That’s not what you do.”

As of Monday afternoon, the video had gained nearly 625,000 views on TikTok. Viewers were outraged.

“There are people who live in complexes for years and up and decide to go to the gym one day,” one user commented. “You gotta call the police on them?”

“Manager handled it completely wrong,” another wrote. “If he doesn’t know a resident, he needs to go up, introduce himself and be smarter about how he confirms residency.”

“I am so tired of them telling us IT’S OKAY, CALM DOWN,” someone else opined. “NO! It’s not OK!”

The Independent has reached out to Hamilton Cove to get its side of the story, and has contacted Mr NYC for more information.