A viral video shows a white man trying to call the police on an African American waiting for a friend

A white man was captured on a viral video calling the San Francisco police to denounce an African-American man who was waiting for a friend.

The incident occurred Thursday in the Nob Hill neighborhood, in the city, when the white man, identified by Christopher Cukor by NBC News, began to ask the black man why he was waiting in the lobby of a building.

"Can you please call your friend at the counter and that he's coming downstairs?" Asked the man at Wesley Michel, who had the video showdown and l? posted on his Facebook.

"They do not need to do that, you can just go," said Michel.

After Cukor took out his phone and said "I'm going to call the police now," a young boy with him pleaded, "Dad, do not do it, do not do it."

"You are going to be the next person on television" known to have called the police to denounce a black person who would not commit any crime, said Michel. "And you have your son with you."

"Dad, go. It's better, I agree with him, dad. It's better. I do not like that. Let's go, "the son hears before he begins to cry.

While Cukor was describing to the police what Michel looked like, Michel gave him his own description stating: "35 years old, software engineer, pink polo shirt, sneakers, jeans."

The San Francisco Police Department confirmed Tuesday at NBC News that a call to the service had been launched since the 1800 block of Van Ness Avenue "about a verbal altercation".

"On arrival, the officers met with both parties.The reporting party stated that an unknown man closely followed behind someone entering the building to be able to enter," according to the statement. police.

"The agent made contact with the adult man who was trying to enter the building, who said he was expecting a friend." During the investigation, officers determined that no crime It was committed and the two parties separated. "

Cukor wrote Tuesday an article in Medium in which he defended himself and apologized to Michel. Cukor confirmed to NBC News that he was the author of the message.

"I noticed that Wesley Michel grabbed the door and walked into the building without using the call box," wrote Cukor. "I did what came naturally and asked where he was going.I want to be clear on this point, it is something that I do regularly, regardless of the identity of the person." other person."

"When the meeting became confrontational and I could not solve it myself, I called the police," he wrote.

Cukor goes on to say that his father was killed by an intruder, an incident he has publicly talked about, as reported by SF Gate. The murder of his father, associated with a series of robberies in the neighborhood, influenced his decision to intervene, wrote Cukor.

But he acknowledged "that there is a terrible tendency to call the authorities about people of color for no other reason than their race".

"The last thing I wanted to do was echo this story," wrote Cukor. "I'm sorry that my actions caused Welsy to feel unjustly targeted because of his race."

Wesley Michel did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

This is the latest in a series of viral incidents in which African Americans have been reported to the police for non-criminal acts.

Last April, two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks, where they were waiting for a friend.

Last summer in Oakland, a white woman nicknamed "Becky BBQ" in a viral video called the authorities of a black family trying to install a grill on the shores of Lake Merritt.

Rima Abdelkader contributed.