'I wish I could take it back:' Woman dubbed Permit Patty says she didn't really call police on girl
SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco woman whom the internet nicknamed “Permit Patty” is now apologizing after a video of her appearing to call police on an 8-year-old-girl selling bottled water without a permit in front of her house went viral.
Alison Ettel, who sells cannabis products for dogs, told the San Francisco Chronicle: “It was wrong, and I wish I could take it back. “Believe me, I wish I never had done that.”
WATCH: Woman appears to call police on 8-year-old girl selling water
She also told the newspaper that she only pretended to call police. Ettel said the girl and her mother had been making noise for several hours and she lost her temper. She said she first tried to get the building’s security to do something, but then got into an argument with the girl’s mother that escalated to the exchange seen in the video.
A spokeswoman for the San Francisco Police Department said officers have had no recent contact with an 8-year-old girl.
Erin Austin, the girl's mother, took the video last week and posted it on Instagram. She said the woman who appeared to call police was upset that her daughter was selling water in front of their home near AT&T Park without a permit.
USA Today reported that Austin recently lost her job, and her daughter was trying to raise money for a trip to Disneyland.