San Francisco

Man Describes San Francisco Garage Confrontation After Video of Incident Goes Viral

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Michael Barajas said he clicked his garage door opener Tuesday night to get into the garage at the San Francisco apartment where he lives when a driver in front would not pull forward.

Barajas, 28, said the situation kept escalating and turned dramatic, which prompted him to start recording. After explaining he had a remote and key fob to enter the garage, Barajas said the man in the video got aggressive, claiming they were trespassing and threatened to call police.

"Given the current political climate and certain I'm Mexican-American, and the rhetoric of us being criminals, just hit close to home," Barajas said. "Even if it wasn't about racism, the level of aggression exuded by him is not OK. It would have been a completely different situation if he asked do I live here."

At one point, another resident got involved to try and explain Barajas is a resident, but then things turned physical.

Police said that bystander was assaulted, but the suspect left prior to arrival. The bystander that was allegedly assaulted in the video has declined to press any charges.

The man in the video has been identified on social media as William Hank Beasley. His LinkedIn profile said he worked at Apex Systems, which confirmed it did terminate an employee over an incident and will not tolerate racist behavior.

Barajas' encounter is the second high-profile recent incident caught on video in San Francisco that is believed to have involved race.

Lisa Alexander recently apologized after questioning a man writing Black Lives Matter outside his house.

San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents the district where this latest incident happened, reached out to the victim.

"No one should have to go through that where someone treats you with suspicion, anger and aggression that seemed to be in a discriminatory way," Haney said.

Beasley has yet to return NBC Bay Area's request for comment on this story.

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