Baton Rouge Woman Fired, Issued Summons After Pouring Water on Homeless Person in Freezing Temps
A viral video of a Baton Rouge convenience store worker pouring water on a homeless person has sparked outrage on social media.
UPDATE (12/28/22):
The woman seen throwing water on a homeless person in the viral video has been issued a misdemeanor summons according to local police.
The Baton Rouge Mayor's office said that the homeless individual has been "connected with the proper services to receive assistance" and also issued the following statement.
An incident over the holiday weekend involving a person who appears to be homeless has caught the attention of our community. This incident emphasizes the continued need for our outreach efforts. In this case, several community partners worked together to locate the individual, bring them to the Bridge Center and connect them with additional services.
The Behavioral Health Homeless Outreach Team, better known as the HOT Team, also visited the business where the incident occurred. The business was made aware of the support offered by the HOT Team to residents experiencing homelessness and crisis. We hope something like this never happens again considering the available resources.
The Mayor’s HOT Team is a city-wide joint effort between Baton Rouge Police Department (BRPD), East Baton Rouge Sherriff’s Office (EBRSO) and Behavioral Health Specialists designed to conduct comprehensive assessments, care coordination, and clinical intervention to the homeless persons in the community. The HOT Team connects with people who struggle with mental illness or behavioral health concerns and are experiencing unsheltered homelessness, living in encampment areas, or involved in panhandling.
If the public needs to connect to HOT team, they may contact the Mayor’s Office at 225.389.3100.
Mayor Sharon Weston Broome
See the full updated story here via WAFB.
ORIGINAL STORY (12/27/22):
According to a report from WAFB, the female worker doused a person who was seen sitting on the side of the store with water after they "refused her orders to leave the property." She reportedly drenched them with water as south Louisiana was dealing with freezing temperatures over the holiday weekend.
The incident appears to have happened within the last several days, during extremely cold weather, outside of the Triple S Food Mart on Foster Drive in Baton Rouge.
When contacted earlier today (Dec. 27), a Triple S store employee told WAFB that "the female employee has since been terminated."
The NSFW video shows the female worker walking around the side of the building while a male voice could be heard echoing her orders to leave the property.
WAFB says the terminated female employee "was actually known for feeding the homeless in the area" but in this case, she was pushed over the edge when "several homeless people" refused to leave the store property.
Comments on social media ranged from people who were saddened by the video to others who couldn't believe what they were witnessing considering the dangerously freezing temperatures that moved through our area over the weekend.
Someone also pointed out that the Triple S convenience store was the same store where Alton Sterling was controversially shot and killed by Baton Rouge Police officers after they responded to reports of him selling CDs on the premises.
See the full story and the subsequent report here via WAFB.