JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Black Jacksonville couple filed a lawsuit against Walmart on Wednesday after they said they were “profiled,” “wrongly imprisoned,” and “humiliated” when they were accused of stealing children’s clothing at a Northside store in October.
“I go there all the time, shop there all the time, and what happened to us was was unimaginable,” said Raymond Brewster, who is one of the plaintiffs in the suit, along with his wife, Nekeeya Brewsters. “I never expected that to happen.”
Attorneys for the couple, which include Jacksonville Councilman Rory Diamond, claimed the couple is not alone and that Walmart repeatedly, systemically, and disproportionately discriminates against Black customers.
According to the lawsuit, the Brewsters went to the Walmart Supercenter at the River City Marketplace on Oct. 13 to buy clothes for one of their three daughters. Later that day, they said they had their daughter try on the clothes, but some items were too small. The Brewster family went back to the store the following day after attending church to exchange the clothing that was too small, the lawsuit says.
Before they left their car to enter the store, Mrs. Brewster, a social worker, said she told to her husband that she didn’t quite know the best way to exchange the clothes.
“She decided the smart thing to do was to put the clothes and the receipt for the clothes in the original Walmart bag, and then tie that bag shut,” the suit says.
In the store, Mrs. Brewster said she put the Walmart bag with the clothes and the receipt that was tied shut into a shopping cart and went to the children’s department. She then found the right size for her child and headed to customer service, according to the lawsuit.
At customer service, Mrs. Brewster said she asked the customer service employee to exchange five pieces of clothing for her and to return a pair of children’s pants. While explaining that it was an “even exchange,” Mrs. Brewster said she untied the bag and produced the clothing items she wanted to exchange and the receipt for those items.
After waiting a while, Mrs. Brewster said she was approached by someone with Walmart loss prevention.
“Ma’am, we saw you put something in your bag,” the employee said, according to the lawsuit.
Mrs. Brewster responded, the lawsuit says, with her baby in her arms, “No, you didn’t see anything in my bag, what are you talking about?”
The Walmart employee then stated loudly enough for about 10 customers to hear, “Ma’am, I have you putting these pair of pants in your bag,” according to the Brewsters.
While saying this, the employee took away a maroon pair of children’s pants and displayed them in the air.
Mr. Brewster said he then showed the employee the receipt from the previous day, but the employee refused to look at it.
“We get into this room,” Raymond Brewster said. “They close the door. The room is probably like a 10 by 10, like it’s really small. So, you know, it’s like me, my three daughters, my wife, two loss prevention guys and two officers.”
According to a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office incident report, the Walmart employee called JSO and said Mrs. Brewster concealed stolen merchandise in her bag and needed to be “stopped.”
Two JSO officers showed up at the store and the Brewsters said they and their three daughters were “required” to follow the JSO officers to an office at the front of the store.
The JSO officer then questioned the Walmart employee.
“They have a receipt? That’s not the information you said to us, that not what’s on body cam,” the JSO officer said to the employee, according to the lawsuit.
“We think we saw her put items in her bag,” the employee responded, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says the employee admitted that they didn’t have video that even appeared to show Mrs. Brewster putting something in the bag and that they hadn’t seen the Brewsters put anything in the bag when confronted by JSO.
The JSO officers then told the Brewsters they were free to go and they were not charged with a crime. Raymond Brewster told News4JAX the ordeal lasted at least an hour.
“One thing that that bothered me the most is that...our children, we always teach them to do the right thing, right? You don’t lie, you don’t tell a story, you don’t cheat, you don’t steal...You try to do everything the right way. So being accused in front of...my kids...of stealing something that we didn’t do. And just the fact that even although you’re telling the truth, and it is the truth, you’re still, like, guilty of something that you didn’t do,” He said.
In the lawsuit, the Brewster family said they were profiled, wrongfully imprisoned, wrongfully detained, defamed, discriminated against in violation of their civil rights, and humiliated.
The lawsuit, citing other examples, claims what happened to the Brewsters continues a trend of Walmart security and related personnel profiling Black customers who have done nothing wrong based on little or no evidence other than their race.
The couple is asking for damages, costs, and attorneys’ fees and costs for each of the counts along with a jury trial.
The lawsuit also asks that the court certify the complaint as a class action representing Black Walmart customers who have been discriminated against by Walmart or its employees over the past two years via security-related profiling based on their race.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Walmart said, “We take these allegations seriously and will respond accordingly once we are served with the complaint. ”
