A routine shopping trip turned into a case of racial profiling of a Maryland couple.
Barbara and Bahri Wallace went to the Anne Arundel County Costco in May to buy a new refrigerator, reports WBALTV. When the couple attempted to leave the parking lot, a police cruiser followed them and demanded they pull over their truck.
"When I made a left on Arundel Mills Boulevard, his lights came on. I looked at Barbara, and I said, 'Did I run the light?' Her response was, 'Is he for us?' I said, 'He's stopping me,'" Bahri said.
The two knew not all police encounters turn out well for Black people. So, Barbara told her husband to keep his hands visible.
"At that point, I was afraid. Let's just say, even if it wasn't this situation when you get pulled over by the police, and you are African-American, there is a lot to think about, and you have to be careful how you conduct yourself," Barbara said. "I was afraid for my husband at that point."
Then, the officer left his squad car and told the couple Costco employees suspected them of shoplifting.
A 911 call, placed around the time they shopped inside, described four people — three Black men and a Black woman — for a robbery in progress. Authorities were given the Wallaces' tag number, which prompted the stop. Upon realizing they weren't involved, police let them go.
The Wallaces returned to the store and discovered the man responsible for the call was a manager. Without an ounce of tact, the manager claimed they fit the bill.
"[The] manager came up. I said, 'Did you call the police on us saying we were shoplifting?' His response was, 'You fit the bill.' I said, 'Fit the bill?' And he said, 'African-American male and female, and your wife is carrying a blue purse,'" Bahri recalled.
Since the incident, the store has shifted blame to the authorities. "Law enforcement, not Costco, made the decision to execute the stop," a statement said. "… Its staff communicated to a patrol officer that it had not found a reason to detain the Wallaces."
But the Anne Arundel County police refuted all blame and accused the store of lying. "The statement Costco made is not only misleading, it is simply wrong. As can be heard in the radio transmissions at the time of the stop, Costco was still attempting to determine if a crime was actually committed. It was in no way relayed that a stop should not have been made."
According to ABC 7 News, the couple has hired an attorney and filed a $4 million lawsuit for damages.
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