'Inappropriate' confrontation at California hotel pool. / ABC 7
A white man accosted a black family at a high-end California hotel on Monday and questioned whether they bathed when they tried to get in the pool.
A video posted on Wednesday by Carle Wheeler shows the woman, her mother and daughter in pure disbelief at the audacity of the man while at the Westin Hotel in Pasadena, California, reports Daily Mail.
"The man asked if me and my little girl had showered before getting into the pool because people carry diseases into the pools and he doesn't want the health department to shut the pool down," Wheeler said in the video caption.
"Minutes later he approached us again on the opposite end of the pool under the pretence that he worked for the health department."
The clip picks up after Wheeler first calls out the man, and her mother and other family members have come to remove her 5-year-old daughter.
"You had no right to do what you did," the Texas resident's mother told the hotel staff in the video that has just under 1.5 million views.
The man retorted: "I simply asked them if they showered and I am sorry."
Carle Wheeler and her five-year-old daughter were swimming in a pool at the Westin Hotel when they were asked by a white man if they had bathed. Photo / Facebook
"You were the only one in the pool," he claimed but the family points out there were more people.
Hotel manager Ofelia Dolliver also arrived, and appeared to be on the side of the family, calling the remarks "inappropriate".
The man claims to have apologised but when Wheeler's mother tries to explain that it wasn't his business, he stated that "it is everybody's business".
As the two continue arguing about how Wheeler and her family travel all the time, the man shouts that they should Google about diseases.
Wheeler and her mother instruct their family to take the small girl back upstairs but the man takes it upon himself to taunt the child before she leaves the area.
"It's only a shower young lady, don't worry," he said.
Soon the manager of the hotel, Carl Sprayberry, comes and instructs everyone to stop or the police will be called.
But when Wheeler and her mother tell the manager to call police, he appears to back off and lets the man walk away.
"You don't know who he is and you are letting him leave? What he did?" said Wheeler's mother.
The manager responded: "Please let me talk to you over here, because I don't want to call the police. And if I do, it is going to be a big headache for everybody."
The group continue in a back and forth as Sprayberry deems that the man is "a guest in the hotel" before Wheeler's mother informs him that they too are guests at the hotel.
"The man asked if me and my little girl had showered before getting into the pool because people carry diseases into the pools." Photo / Facebook
The scene fades out as Sprayberry tells the family that since the man has left, they should be able to enjoy the pool.
Wheeler says that only after some of the white guests, who had been in the Jacuzzi, called the front desk did Sprayberry believe what had happened.
He then told the family he would look at security footage to determine who the man was and remove him from the hotel.
The family left the hotel early on Monday, and Wheeler claimed Dolliver apologised and admitted Sprayberry didn't handle the situation appropriately.
"It's just sad that in 2018 we are still dealing with these issues and still having to teach our children things that people had to teach their children in the 50s and 60s. Nothing has changed," Wheeler said in a video detailing the effects of the event on her, her family and child.
She added: "It's sad that I had to explain to my beautiful little 5-year-old brown-skinned girl why in 2018 a white man would think it's okay to ask a little girl and her mom if we showered our presumably dirty black skin before entering a swimming pool."
The hotel said it did not condone comments or behaviour directed at its pool guests.
"We strive to maintain an environment where our guests feel welcome and are treated with equal respect and attention from our team."
Rooms at the Westin go for US$150 ($216) to $250 a night.
