The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says three teens, who are black, were mistakenly detained in a Target store during a major theft investigation last week.
VENTURA, Calif. – The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said three teenagers, who are black, were wrongly detained at a Target store in Westlake Village during a major theft investigation last week.
The teenagers – a 17-year-old and two 16-year-old children – from Thousand Oaks were walking home on January 17 after being with friends at church when they decided to stop at Target to buy snacks, the Ventura County Star reported.
The teens said they were the victims of racial profiling by Target staff and delegates from the country.
One of the boys told the Star that he and his friends were not aware of a shoplifting incident while they were in the store, where the suspects in the electronics department burst through the glass and stole smartphones.
“We were followed in the store by an employee who told us, ‘Hey, I can not walk around,'” he said. He explained that the group decided to leave, but found the exit with care vans.
The teenager said Target security staff did not allow the teens even though other visitors were there.
Three deputies then showed up and detained the teens in front of the store, including one handcuffed, and put him in a police vehicle for up to 20 minutes before being released. Authorities later said they had been identified by the store’s loss prevention officers as the suspects.
Capt. Will “Chuck” Becerra said in a statement on social media on Friday that the teens were released and an internal investigation found no evidence of excessive violence.
Target issued a statement saying the company had apologized to the teens, fired one of the security team members involved and would require some of the store’s employees to take up safety and prejudice training again.
The mother of the teenager who was handcuffed, meanwhile, has retained lawyer Toni Jaramilla to file a lawsuit over the violation of her son’s civil rights. She disputes that the deputies’ account states that excessive force was not used.
“The way they were detained was very aggressive and very important to the situation,” Jaramilla said.