PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - A woman claims she was racially profiled while shopping at a Pembroke Pines H&M store.
Daniela Taylor was shopping at the H&M at Pembroke Lakes Mall last week to return a pair of earrings and buy a new set. She was able to complete her transaction.
However, she said as she exited the store, two loss prevention officers grabbed her purse and cellphone, accusing her of shoplifting.
“The loss prevention agent said to me, ‘Do you know why I’m asking you to come with us?'” Taylor said. “I said, ‘No, I didn’t do anything, I don’t know.’ He said, ‘So you didn’t take something off of the shelf and put it in your bag and returned it as though you purchased it? I said, ‘No, I would never do anything like that.'”
Upon reviewing the security footage, loss prevention officers found out she had purchased the earrings.
“I was confused. I was like, ‘What did I do? I know I didn’t do anything wrong,'” Taylor said in tears. “I was humiliated. The whole experience was traumatizing. They treated me like a criminal, and I just kept repeating, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong,’ and they just wasn’t trying to hear me.”
H&M has released a statement in response to the incident, which read: “We are aware of the incident that took place in our Pembroke Lakes Mall location. Unfortunately, this was a misunderstanding and we are sorry. We have since let go of the third party security company that was involved, and we are reviewing our internal procedures to make sure this type of incident does not happen again and that our routines are properly followed. We have been in touch with the customer to follow up on the steps we have taken.”
Taylor has since hired an attorney to tackle the case.
“Two loss prevention officers from H&M approached her, accused her of stealing,” her attorney Jasmine Rand said, “publicly humiliating her in front of other people, ripped her bag and cellphone out of her hand.”
At a news conference, Rand brought up previous controversial incidents involving H&M.
“H&M has a corporate culture and a history of racially profiling black people,” she said. “It wasn’t so long ago that they placed a little black boy in a hoodie that said ‘Coolest monkey in the jungle.'”
In 2014, H&M also settled a case with Brenda Moaning, a grandmother who was also accused of shoplifting.
“I’m scared to go into the store and have somebody following me,” Taylor said. “I’m paranoid.”
She vowed to never return to an H&M store.
Taylor and her attorney have not filed a suit against the company and said they are awaiting the retailer’s response.
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