The skin care brand Rodan + Fields fired a white South Carolina contractor who allegedly assaulted a black teenager at a pool and told him he didn't belong there, the company said in a statement obtained Sunday by NBC News.
The contractor, Stephanie Sebby-Strempel, was no longer affiliated with the company after it reviewed "law enforcement statements" and determined that she violated company policy, the statement said.
"We do not condone violence of any kind and pride ourselves on embracing inclusion and acceptance of all," the company had said in an earlier statement.
Authorities said Sebby-Strempel, 38, was charged with third-degree assault after she hit a 15-year-old boy in the face and chest during an encounter at a pool on June 24 in Summerville, South Carolina, according to a Dorchester County Sheriff's Office incident report.
Authorities also charged Sebby-Strempel with resisting arrest after she allegedly bit a sheriff's detective and pushed another into a wall when they tried to arrest her.
Citing the unidentified teen, the report alleges that Sebby-Strempel called the boy "a punk," used "racial slurs" and said he didn't belong at the community pool — even though a family friend who lives in the neighborhood invited him.
A video posted on Facebook by a woman who identified herself as the teenager's aunt appeared to show Sebby-Strempel repeatedly telling him to "get out" as she swatted at his camera while he recorded the confrontation.
"No child, including mine or anybody else's, ever, ever deserves that type of abuse or treatment," the teenager's mother, who wasn't identified, told reporters at a news conference, according to NBC affiliate WCBD.
Efforts to reach Sebby-Strempel on Sunday were not successful.
Observers have compared the encounter to other recent incidents of apparent racial bias — including "Permit Patty" and "BBQ Becky" — dubbing Sebby-Strempel "Pool Patrol Paula."
