Black Woman Striped in Front of Target Male Employees After She Was Wrongly Accused of Stealing a Bikini, Files Suit
Target later apologised for the alleged profiling and announced the termination of one employee ‘directly involved’ in the incident.
Michigan woman Ashanea Davis, 20, filed a suit to Target Corporation with claims of racial and gender discrimination. Davis was allegedly forced to strip down in front of Target male employees at one of their stores to prove she didn’t steal a bikini. The officers handcuffed her and took her to a back room forcing her to show that she wasn’t wearing the bikini underneath her clothing. Target fired the security guard on Monday.
On May 22, Davis was allegedly accused of stealing a bikini by a loss prevention officer – an African-American male – who grabbed Davis by her arm to prevent her from leaving the Target store in Southfield, Michigan according to attorneys Jasmine Rand and Maurice Davis. “To obtain her freedom she then has to pull up her shirt with two male employees at target to prove she hasn’t stolen a bikini top and then she has to pull down her pants to prove she hasn’t stolen a bikini bottom,” attorney Jasmine Rand told WXYZ. “And only then would they let her leave.”
Davis told the Detroit ABC affiliate that the incident was ‘very humiliating. “At first, I was in shock, of course,” she said. “I felt degraded. It was sad. I was very upset.” She also said that she ‘was scared – afraid of what was going to happen next’. Davis and Rand held a press conference on Monday morning in Detroit in which they detailed the incident, calling it racial profiling.
Target later apologised for the alleged profiling and announced the termination of one employee ‘directly involved’ in the incident. “We want everyone who shops at Target to feel welcomed and respected and take any allegations of mistreatment seriously,” Target said in a statement on Monday. “We’re sorry for the actions of our former team member, who created an experience we don’t want any guest to have at Target. Upon reviewing our team’s actions, we terminated the team member who was directly involved.”
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 06, 2018 09:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).