Pool Patrol Paula may have found her love connection: Pool Patrol Paul.
The latest offender of calling police for Black people doing normal things has been identified by the New York Post as Adam Bloom, who his attorney claims is being “crucified.”
Jasmine Edwards posted a video on Facebook after a white man called the police because she wanted to swim in her own pool, and he believed he had the authority to ask her for identification.
“This is a classic case of racial profiling in my half a million $ neighborhood pool. This happened to me and my baby today,” Edwards wrote on the post. “What a shame!!”
The incident occurred in Winston-Salem, N.C., which is 46 percent white and 35 percent Black.
The video shows Bloom (who social media referred to as #IDAdam) and two police officers.
“Where does it say that I have to show an ID to use the pool My own pool” Edwards asks.
“It doesn’t say she has to show an ID, anywhere,” a woman is heard saying off-camera.
“And nobody else was asked [for] their ID,” Edwards says. “I am the only Black I feel this is racial profiling. I’m the only Black person here, with my son, in the pool. And he walked only to me to ask for my ID.”
Bloom claims he asks people for ID “pretty much a couple of times a week.”
Edwards tells the police that Bloom asked for her address, which she shared with him. But apparently Bloom didn’t believe Edwards was a resident in their neighborhood, and he asked for ID to prove her address.
“I’m just here with my baby, swimming,” Edwards says.
“If she has a card to get in the pool, I believe that should be enough ” one officer starts saying.
“Okay, let’s validate that it works, then,” Bloom answers.
When it does in fact work, the man still shows no remorse. The officer apologizes to Edwards for wasting her time. He asks Edwards and Bloom if they need anything else.
“A form of ID would’ve been helpful to validate,” Bloom answers.
The officer explains, again, that if Edwards has her pool entry card, that should be enough to prove she’s a resident.
“Yeah, they kind of make their way around, sometimes,” Bloom responds, referring to the pool entry cards.
“But that’s good enough for me today,” he adds.
“Do you want to apologize Adam Adam” Jasmine asks. “Do you want to apologize for what you just did”
“I just said, provide the address, you’ll be fine,” is all he says.
Until then, Bloom had served as chairman of the Glenridge Homeowners Association. He resigned the day after his altercation with Edwards, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
Edwards had asked police what she could do to take legal action against Bloom. The officer said that would be a civil matter, not something that he can handle. It’s unclear if she has taken action yet.
Bloom’s attorney, John Vermitsky, said the incident was in no way racially motivated. He called it “not unreasonable” for Edwards to have the “perception” that the call was based on profiling.
“But it’s dangerous when we paint with a broad brush and label that as being the motivation for all these things,” he told the Post. “This poor guy is being crucified for doing something he was appointed to do.”
Bloom was appointed to follow and enforce the community rules, which do not require him to check identification, or involve police.
