Woman Claims Target Employees Made Her Strip To Prove She Didnât Steal A Bikini
Source: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc / Getty
A Michigan woman is suing a local Target store after she was falsely accused of stealing a bikini.
According to MLive.com, Ashanae Davis, 20, was shopping at a Southfield Target on May 29 with a bag from another store with a swimsuit in it. Out of nowhere, a white security guard grabbed her by the arm, while another one, who was Black, handcuffed her. From there, they dragged her into a room with three store employees: A white man, a Black man and white female manager, her attorney Jasmine Rand told the Associated Press.
Then she says she was humiliated when they forced her to lift up her shirt and pull down her pants to show them she was not concealing merchandise.
âInitially, I was in shock. I couldnât believe what was going on,â Davis told NBC News. âI was scared â afraid of what was going to happen next.â
The swimsuit was later determined to be from another retailer, not stolen from Target.
Even worse? According to Rand, âThe African-American employee apologized to [Davis] and said, âThis happens all the time,â and he was afraid he would lose his jobâ if he didnât participate. The other two [who were white] did not apologize at all.â
Store officials has since apologized and have fired the security worker who initially grabbed Davis.
âWe want everyone who shops at Target to feel welcomed and respected and take any allegations of mistreatment seriously,â Target said in a statement.
âWeâre sorry for the actions of our former team member, who created an experience we donât want any guest to have at Target. Upon reviewing our teamâs actions, we terminated the team member who was directly involved.â
But in Davisâ mind, this apology is not enough.
She recently told Teen Vogue, âTarget informed the public that it fired the black male loss prevention officer involved in the incident, but failed to fire the white male loss prevention officer and the white female manager, who â to me and my attorneys â are the two most guilty parties.â
She added: âI do not feel vindicated or like justice has been served by Target allowing the black loss prevention officer to take the fall for the other employees and its company. Thatâs just another act of racial discrimination, and I hope [the black loss prevention officer] gets an attorney too. Hate canât drive out hate.â
Davis, along with her lawyers, are filing a suit against Target.
This isnât the first time Target has been accused of racial profiling this year.
As NBC pointed out, a few months ago a Black man said he was racially profiled at a Target in Waconia, Minnesota when he was told he couldnât touch headphones he wanted to buy because they feared he would steal them. In addition, in April, Target agreed to a $3.7 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging that the companyâs criminal background check process was biased against black and Latino applicants.
