Two women say they were racially profiled while shopping at a Miramar Walgreens, and now they say they may take legal action.
Santanna Neal and Crystal Davis are speaking out and demanding answers after they say they were profiled while shopping for items they needed for an upcoming business trip.
"Probably the most traumatic experience of my life," Davis said at a news conference Wednesday. " I was made to feel like a criminal."
They say after only a minute or two of entering the store, a Walgreens employee called the Miramar Police Department, reporting that the ladies were stealing items.
After paying for their items and attempting to exit the store, three police officers approached them and led them back inside the store, the women claim. Video shows officers searching their bags and looking through all their personal belongings.
Davis said the incident happened in front of her 3-year-old daughter.
"I don’t want to explain to my daughter I was being brought back into the store when I did nothing wrong, also I don’t want her to see that, she’s way too young to have to experience that," Davis said.
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The women are business owners in Miramar and are now taking legal action.
"We’re here today to ensure their civil and human rights are enforced, and that their dignity is upheld, because we cannot continue this horrible pattern and practice of racial profiling," attorney Jasmine Rand said.
Miramar Police said they had no comment. A Walgreens spokesperson released a statement Wednesday.
"First and foremost, we firmly believe everyone should be welcome and treated with respect at our stores. Our policies strictly prohibit any form of discrimination or racial profiling, and the employees involved in this incident are no longer employed by the company. Additionally, we will be accelerating our existing unconscious bias and sensitivity training across all of our stores nationwide in the coming weeks. This training will be in addition to the anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training already in place," the statement read. “We have personally met with and apologized to the customers and their representatives. We take this matter very seriously and are sorry it happened."
"I work my whole life to not be a stereotype, I work my whole life to take advantage of all the opportunities are put in front of me, and in one second I was stripped of all of that, and made to feel like nothing," Davis said.
