Nordstrom Rack Calls Cops on Black 3 Teens Shopping For Prom, Wrongly Aucused of Shoplifting
A Nordstrom Rack in Brentwood, Mo., where cops were called on three black teens store staff wrongfully claimed were shoplifting. The three had been shopping for prom outfits. Screenshot: KMOV-TV
With prom coming up, high school seniors Eric Rogers II and Dirone Taylor needed something to wear. So the pair hit up a Nordstrom Rack in Brentwood, Mo., along with their friend, college freshman Mekhi Lee, to lock down an outfit and accessories for the big night. But while they searched for clothes, they noticed several of the store’s employees watching them and following them around.
“Every time we move, they move. When we looked up, they looked up,” Lee told KMOV-TV.
They were aware they were being profiled, so they left—until one of the young men realized that he had left his hat in the store. When they returned for the hat, an elderly white woman shopping at Nordstrom Rack confronted the teens, the Washington Post reports. The three young men said she called them punks and asked the teens, “Are your parents proud for what you do?”
The young men asked to speak to a store manager, according to the Post, only to be told by Nordstrom Rack employees that they couldn’t meet with one. Again they left the store—until they turned around and saw a manager waving the three of them back……