Three Black men are accusing the San Francisco Police Department of racial profiling after they were detained at a high-end department store for several hours before being cleared of wrongdoing.
The three friends and Oakland natives were detained at the Saks Fifth Avenue store on Union Square on March 3.
Police said one of the men detained matched the description provided by a caller of a man the caller said had been brandishing a firearm inside the store.
The men said they had been shopping inside the store for 30 minutes or less when police approached them with guns drawn.
“‘Hey you three, get the f down, ” an officer said to them, according to Greg Peirson, who was handcuffed because police believed he matcher the description of the man with the gun.
Three Black men accuse SFPD of racial profiling while shopping at Union Square
Three Black men accuse SFPD of racial profiling while shopping at Union Square
Three friends who were shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue in San Francisco accuse SFPD of racial profiling. Police say one of them matched the description of someone who brandished a firearm. They were detained for hours, say they were compliant and cleared of any wrongdoing. Police say their response was appropriate
SAN FRANCISCO - Three friends were detained for hours by police at a high-end department store in San Francisco Wednesday afternoon.
They ve all been cleared of any wrongdoing, and are now accusing police of racial profiling. The men are planning on filing a lawsuit. They are being represented by civil rights attorney Adante Pointer.
Three men who say they had come to shop Wednesday, as they often do, at the Saks Fifth Avenue store on Post Street in Union Square, say they were the victims of racial profiling and were detained for hours by San Francisco police after doing nothing wrong.