A WALMART SHOPPER has filed a $475,000 lawsuit against the retail chain after being allegedly racially profiled and falsely accused of stealing a vacuum.
Ryan Redditt, a 46-year-old Black man, claims that Walmart employees followed him out of the store, berating him for a vacuum he actually bought.
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According to the lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, on July 11, 2023, Reddit bought a vacuum from the Tigard Walmart in Oregon, paying at a self-checkout and walking out of the store.
Upon leaving Reddit claimed that an employee asked him for his receipt but before he could process the first-time request, another employee allegedly yelled, “You’re going to jail, the police will be called!” according to OregonLive.
Redditt said a uniformed security guard also allegedly yelled “Why you gotta steal?”
The shopper was confused and thought they were speaking to someone else because he knew he paid for the item.
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Once he realized they were addressing him, he found himself being trailed to his car by three people; two employees and one person who looked like a customer who was allegedly recording a video and taking pictures of Reddit and his license plate.
The person allegedly recording said to the employees, “Don’t worry, I got all this on film,” and told Redditt, “We will find you and call the police. We will put this on social media so everyone knows who you are.”
Reddit’s lawsuit also claimed that the people who followed him yelled, “You should get a job! Then you won’t have to steal” and “I’m so tired of you.”
It also claimed that the people told Reddit the pictures would be posted to social media so police could find him.
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“It was incredibly insulting,” said Redditt.
He also shared with the outlet that he owns a food cart and would never steal from another business.
“I work very, very hard. …It was humiliating to be put in that position.”
Reddit told the outlet that he left out of fear that the situation would escalate as people said things that “were completely and totally false.”
On his mind was the police brutality and cruelty against Black men.
“My mentality was “I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. I don’t really need to stay here and entertain much more of this. I’m being humiliated,'” he said.
Another lawsuit against Walmart
In 2022, Walmart paid an Oregon man $4.4 million after an incident at a store, reported the Associated Press.
Michael Mangum claimed that employee Joe Williams “spied” on him while shopping in 2020, demanded he leave the store, and then called the police when he refused to go.
The shopper said Williams threatened to tell the police that Mangum had threatened to “smash him in the face.”
Mangum sued for “negligent retention and action against person who summons police with improper intent.”
The lawsuit said that Walmart was aware Williams had “provided false information about customers” to cops previously and “police had complained that he was not to be trusted.”
The Associated Press reported that Williams was fired by Walmart in July 2020 for “mishandling” $35 of their property.
According to the lawsuit, an asset protection investigator for the store called the police and said he knew Reddit was a thief because “he went through no points of sale. …I saw him walking from the grocery action alley, and he walked straight through ignoring any point of sale. …He didn’t stop anywhere to pay.”
‘SCARLET LETTER’
The torment didn’t end when Reddit left the parking lot because over the next few months, the shopper lived in fear.
After the incident, Reddit reported the incident to Walmart’s corporate office and didn’t hear back for months.
He told the outlet that he spent those long months worrying that the police would pull him over and drag him from his car.
“I was driving around with a scarlet letter on myself, so to speak,” Reddit told the outlet.
“I could have had an unwelcomed or unwanted interaction with the police. …It’s really difficult to quantify the mental anguish of being put in this situation.”
The weight of the photos and videos being posted on social media at any given moment also weighed heavily on him.
Only after he hired a lawyer, Noah Horst, did he learn that Walmart had contacted Tigard police on September 26, about two months after the incident, telling them it was a mistake.
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The retailer told police that Reddit had in fact paid for the vacuum and it was proven with transaction records and surveillance video.
He was shocked by the company’s admittance but came to the difficult decision that he had been targeted by employees because of his race.
“I’m the type of person who really tries to give people the benefit of the doubt,” Redditt said.
“I really, really try to be fastidious about choosing to identify that.”
Walmart told The U.S. Sun that it had received and reviewed Reddit’s complaint.
“We will respond appropriately in court,” the company added.
ANOTHER LAWSUIT
This was not the first lawsuit filed against the company regarding racial profiling.
In 2022, Walmart was ordered to pay $4.4 million to another Oregon man, reported the Associated Press.
Michael Mangum claimed that an employee “spied” on him while shopping in 2020, demanded he leave the store, and then called the police when he refused to go.
The shopper said the employee threatened to tell the police that Mangum had threatened to “smash him in the face.”
Mangum sued for “negligent retention and action against person who summons police with improper intent.”
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Police told Walmart that the same employee had made similar calls previously but the retailer allowed them to continue working.
The Associated Press reported that the employee was fired by Walmart in July 2020 for “mishandling” $35 of their property.