White Center man claims racial profiling by neighbor

WHITE CENTER, Wash. — Captured on video, a white woman suspected her new neighbor of breaking into his own home and called 911.

That video has since gone viral. It was posted on social media last week by Dayson Barnes and his boyfriend.

The couple moved into their White Center home three weeks ago. Still, their neighbor suspected Barnes of breaking in. She said she called 911 as a concerned neighbor, fearful that someone was breaking into a home.

But Barnes says he believes she believed that only because he is Black.

“I was here,” said Barnes, walking to the driveway. “So, I ended up, I was waiting.”

That is when Barnes says a neighbor he did not know approached him outside his home. He says he waved and went back into the house.

“I came outside and asked her if she needed something,” said Barnes. “And she said, ‘Yes, I do.’ And I asked what she had needed, and that’s when the video had started and everything ensued.”

“If you guys have a lease, I’d just like to see the lease,” the neighbor was recorded saying.

“No ma’am,” Barnes is heard saying.

“You have no business with (our) personal documents,” said Jason Briggs, his boyfriend.

“No, ma’am,” Barnes added, “at all.”

At that point his neighbor, DaniMay Red, called 911.

“I’m a lover,” insists Red. “And I look out for other people.”

She says she was just trying to protect the family she thought still lived across the street.

“And I saw an individual dressed in all black with a hood over his head in the back of the house,” said Red. “And I said, ‘Just wondering what you’re doing at my neighbor’s house.’ And he said, ‘I live here.’ And I said, ‘No you don’t. I know who lives there, and it’s not you.’ And he says, ‘Yes, I do.’ And I said ‘unless you can prove it, I’m going to call the police.’ "

Minutes later, the King County Sheriff’s deputies arrived.

“They responded,” said Capt. Tim Meyer. “And I think once they determined it was not a burglary in progress, they recognized the right thing to do was to excuse themselves. And that’s what they did.”

Barnes believes he was targeted because of his race.

“I think what offended her is that there was a young Black man standing behind a home that she previously thought the old tenants stil lived here,” said Barnes.

Red was told Barnes thinks she stopped him because he is black.

“No, my love,” she replied. “No, no.”

She says she has received death threats since the video went viral.

As for Dayson Barnes, he says this is motivating him to become an activist, to make sure others know this can and does happen everywhere.

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