Alison Ettel, the woman known as “Permit Patty” for calling the police on an 8-year-old girl selling water, has resigned from her role as CEO of a California-based cannabis company. The company, TreatWell, sells cannabis-based tinctures for human and animal pain relief. After a video of Ettel calling the police went viral, dispensaries began pulling her company’s products off the shelf.
“It is Ms. Ettel’s belief that TreatWell, its employees and patients should not have to suffer because of a situation that occurred in an escalated moment,” said company spokeswoman Cynthia Gonzalez, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ettel, 44, says she feels “manipulated.” The situation that has led Ettel to be labeled a racist originally began as a noise complaint. She was bothered by the girl yelling “two dollars, cold water” outside her office, and hoped that a permit violation would make the young vendor move elsewhere.
“I had no idea who it was,” said Ettel on CNN. “All I heard was the yelling. How could it possibly be racism?”
Still, Ettel says she regrets her behavior and is embarrassed by her decisions.
Since the video of the incident went viral, Ettel’s professional life has taken a hit. Aside from several Bay Area dispensaries breaking ties with TreatWell, the producer of “Lady Buds,” an upcoming documentary on the cannabis industry, removed all material related to TreatWell and Ettel from the film.
“There is no room for hate or discrimination in society, the cannabis industry, or our film,” the film team announced.
Ettel has also received death threats from individuals online. Erin Austin, the mother of the girl selling water, says the threats should stop, but still harshly condemns Ettel’s behavior.
“Just the fact that she called the police on a child—that’s evil,” said Austin,”but to call on a child of color, knowing that police have been killing black kids—that says to me that you don’t care about my child’s life.”
Ettel claims she didn’t call for police dispatch, but was merely asking if the child selling water was legal.