A White Couple Attacked A Black Hotel Worker At A Quality Inn

Crystal Caldwell, a 59-year-old front desk worker at a Quality Inn in Mystic Connecticut was on duty when a guest called her to complain that his hot water was not working. What should have been a quickly fixed mistake, soon became an all-out assault against Caldwell and is now being investigated as a hate crime.

Two suspects were arrested after being accused of attacking a Black hotel worker in Connecticut.

According to The Day newspaper Caldwell had offered the man over the phone to have his hot water fixed or find him a new room but before things could be resolved the man became irate and cursed at her. Things began to escalate when he claimed he would send his girlfriend to “kick her a**.” 

According to the New York Daily News, the man who has been identified as Philip Sarner headed to the front desk to confront Caldwell. She called her supervisors who tried to calm him down but Sarner soon attacked her and tried to jump over the desk. In the midst of his rage, he called her an “old monkey” while repeatedly punching her.

After police were called, Caldwell went to get ice from the hotel’s hallway and was soon confronted by Sarner’s girlfriend Emily Orbay. Orbay attacked her and was soon joined by Sarner.

The violent attack left Caldwell with bruises, damage to her right eye, and a concussion. She also suffers from injuries to her rib.

Caldwell was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries.

Caldwell claims that during the attack the two called her racial slurs and criticized the Black Lives Matter movement.

Caldwell says that during the attack Orbay and Sarner yelled “Black Lives Matter? Your life doesn’t matter, you don’t deserve to live on this earth.” Both Orbay and Sarner were arrested on Monday in Brooklyn, New York by United States Marshals and NYPD. According to NBC Connecticut reports “Sarner is charged with second degree assault, third degree assault and intimidation based on bigotry and bias. Orbay is charged with two counts of third degree assault and intimidation based on bigotry and bias.”

Caldwell says the incident was very hard for her and an implication of a much bigger problem in our society.

“I am almost 60 years old, for him to want to physically fight me is very, very, very, very hard for me,” Caldwell said. “I should not have to be begging for my life, that was devastating because there are people that are dying, that are dead. This goes beyond police, these are just regular people, American citizens with hate. That man had so much hate for me in his heart.”