A gas station employee in Portland, Oregon, has been fired after refusing to sell gas to an African-American man and threatening to call the police on him because he believed it would be used to start fires and provoke riots. The city has witnessed intense unrest over the last couple of weeks with clashes between protesters and federal troops.
A video of the racist encounter, which is now being widely circulated on social media, was shared by Dom DeWeese on Facebook along with a caption noting that the incident took place at a local gas station he frequently visits to purchase gasoline.
'Do You Want Me to Call the Police?'
The video starts off with DeWeese asking the employee if they sell gasoline and the employee responds by telling him to go "two blocks left."
"Do you sell gas here? This is a gas station," he asks the staff member again. "Do you want to call the police? We'll do that," the man responds.
"I'm trying to understand how come I can't get gas," DeWeese says to the employee. "You're not explaining to me why you're refusing to sell me gasoline."
"You don't watch the news," the attendant tells the customer before suggesting that the customer is trying to buy gasoline to start riots. "Well there's dumpster fires. They get a can of gasoline and they start the fires," the employee says.
"So are you picking and choosing who to sell gasoline to?" the customer asks him. "That's right," the attendant answers. DeWeese then tries to explain to him that he needs gasoline for his lawnmower and to pour it down the mole holes on his property.
'There's Dumpster Fires All Over Town'
The attendant then reiterates that the city has been overrun with dumpster fires and that he's carrying an illegal container. "You hear nothing about protesting? You got a container you want filled. I'm just doing my part to keep down the fires in town."
DeWeese then points out to the man that his racist behavior could hurt his business and they could risk losing customers like him. "Like we're gonna make money on a gallon of gas," the attendant says mockingly.
"They're refusing to sell me gasoline because he's judging me and stereotyping me and saying that I'll start riots and fires," DeWeese says into the camera before identifying the gas station as Jay's Garage. Watch the video below:
Employee Gets Fired
Shortly after the video went viral several social media users started review-bombing Jay's Garage, bringing its review score down to 2.2 stars on Facebook. The vehicle repair shop later issued a statement saying that the employee's behavior was "completely unacceptable" and that he had been fired from his job.
"We at Jay's Garage would like to address the situation that happened at the station yesterday. The behavior exhibited by the employee was completely unacceptable and appalling; this goes against our business policies and practices. We immediately terminated his employment based on his poor treatment of another human being as soon as we learned of the incident," the statement read.
"We sincerely apologize to Mr. DeWeese, and all others, that were affected by this; and we would like to ask Mr. DeWeese to stop by the shop so we can apologize in person to him."
