Buying expensive things while black is unsafe too

Amazing behavior. How is it wrong when you pay for what you buy?

A NEW York university student got more than he bargained for when staff had him handcuffed for splurging on a $350 designer belt at the department store Barneys.

Apparently thinking the black teen couldn't afford the pricey purchase, a store clerk had him handcuffed even though he had paid for it, a new lawsuit alleges.

"His only crime was being a young black man," his attorney, Michael Palillo, told The New York Post.

Trayon Christian, 19, a first year at the NYC College of Technology, headed to the Madison Avenue fashion mecca in April to buy a Salvatore Ferragamo belt after saving up his money from a part-time job at university.

But as soon as he exited the luxury department store, undercover officers grabbed Christian and asked "how a young black man such as himself could afford to purchase such an expensive belt," according to the suit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

A Barneys clerk, who had asked Christian for identification when he bought the belt, called police claiming the purchase was a fraud, the suit says.

Plainclothes detectives hauled Christian off Fifth Avenue and into the local precinct. There, Christian produced his identification, his bank debit card and the receipt with his name on it, the suit states. "In spite of producing such documentation, Christian was told that his identification was false and that he could not afford to make such an expensive purchase."

Cops eventually called his bank, which verified that the card belonged to Christian, and they let him go. Police sources said Christian has no arrest record.

Christian told The New York Post he returned the belt out of disgust over his treatment by the world-famous clothing store.

"I didn’t want to have anything to do with it," he said, adding that he was first inspired to buy the accessory by Harlem rapper Juelz Santana who wears the Italian designer’s duds.

Christian said he'll never shop at Barneys again. He is suing both Barneys and the New York Police Department for unspecified damages.

Barneys did not immediately comment. A spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department said she would review the claims once she received the suit.

Original report here

　

　

　

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