Posted on 10/23/2013 2:50:27 PM PDT by IbJensen
19-year-old college student from Queens says he was handcuffed and locked in a jail cell after buying a $350 designer belt at Barneys on New York's Madison Avenue because he is "a young black man."
Trayon Christian told NBC 4 New York on Wednesday that he saved up from a part-time job for weeks to buy a Salvatore Ferragamo belt at Barneys.
When he went to the store to buy it in April, he says the checkout clerk asked to see his identification. After the sale went through and he left the store, he was approached by police about a block away, and asked "how a young black man such as himself could afford to purchase such an expensive belt," according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
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Officers hauled Christian to the local precinct, where he showed police his identification, as well as his debit card and the receipt for the belt, the lawsuit says.
Police still believed Christian's identification was fake, and eventually called his bank, which verified it was his, according to the complaint. Christian, who has no prior arrests, was released.
He told NBC 4 New York that questions were racing through his mind while he went through the painful experience of being handcuffed and taken to a cell.
"Why me? I guess because I'm a young black man, and you know, people do a credit card scam so they probably thought that I was one of them," Christian said. "They probably think that black people don't have money like that."
He later returned the belt to Barneys because he says he "didn't want to have nothing to do with it."
He is suing the city and the luxury department store for unspecified damages as a result of "great physical and mental distress and humiliation."
Christian's attorney, Michael Palillo, told the Post, "His only crime was being a young black man."
Barneys said in a statement Wednesday that none of its employees was involved in any action with Christian other than the sale, and added that the store "has zero tolerance for any form of discrimination."
I never said he didn’t have the right - my point was about priorities and having others pay for college - freeing up one’s own money to buy an over priced belt made in Malaysia for $5...the part about being arrested - if that’s all it was - Yes - that way out there and should have never happened...
Spot on.
THe actions of the people involved had to be based on some previous experience. That biases rightly or wrongly.
Most people whether they admit it or not use a statistical approach to the choices they make. Here is an example where the individual in question didn’t follow the statistics but was more of an outlier. Unfortunately for him, he got treated poorly by those who are supposed to “protect and serve”.
For most people a gym membership and regular exercise will do way more for you appearance than an Armani suit.
While I agree in principle, CUNY (City University of New York, of which, City College is one institution) satellite campuses, for the most part, are just watered down versions of City College, where forever it is 1958, the Rosenbergs were framed, Stalin saved Europe and the Brilliant Adali Stevenson lost to an amiable dunce.
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