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A white woman is in the midst of an argument with a mixed-race couple, who were celebrating their 1-year-old daughter's birthday on a tree-lined esplanade in an upscale neighborhood in Houston.
The racially tinged incident, which occurred Feb. 16, is yet another public confrontation to draw focus on racism in the United States, after being filmed and going viral. It drew a flurry of media coverage and scrutiny to the woman, whom local media reports identified as Franci Neely, a "socialite" and ex-wife of Houston Astros owner Jim Crane.
Neely has since issued an apology.
"A week ago, I let my emotions overtake my better self," she said in a video posted to YouTube on Saturday. "And I apologize from the bottom of my heart. To my family, friends, neighbors and fellow Houstonians, I ask for forgiveness and understanding. I love Houston and ask that we come together to heal, and I extend my hand in friendship.
The incident occurred around 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 16, he said. The baby's father, Isaiah Allen, 31, made the complaint about an hour later. Allen told police that he and his wife were taking pictures of their baby when the woman approached, yelled at them and told them to get off the grass, Senties said. Allen said the woman struck him on his arms and hand, Senties said, before leaving the scene.
The area is marked by long-standing tensions between the homeowners association in the neighborhood near Rice University, southwest of downtown, and people who have come to use the esplanade for photo shoots, according to local reports.
The city of Houston maintains that the esplanades are public but has been engaged in a long struggle against the Broadacres Homeowners Association, which has argued that the streets and brick sidewalks are owned by the city but that the grass is owned by the Broadacres Trust, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The viral video does not capture what had sparked the argument. Allen's wife, Kelyn, said that the incident began when the woman drove by the esplanade and shouted at them through her window about "trampling the grass that we pay for." She then got out of the car, and a dispute ensued about the woman's dog running near the young child. The photographer the couple was working with approached the woman, Kelyn said, to try to defuse the situation.
