The president of Nordstrom Rack is apologizing for a theft accusation against three young black men who were found innocent of any wrongdoing in the incident.
Geevy Thomas has flown to St. Louis and will apologize to the teens in person, KMOV reported.
Mekhi Lee, Dirone Taylor, and Eric Rogers II were looking to buy prom clothes at a Brentwood, Missouri, Nordstrom Rack location when they saw store employees watching them closely, KMOV reported.
“I was nervous the whole time,” Lee, an Alabama A&M freshman who was helping the other two find prom attire, told KMOV. “Every time we move, they move. When we looked up, they looked up.”
The tense situation escalated when an elderly female customer called the trio “punks,” Business Insider reported.
When the three teens left the store, police approached them in the parking lot and questioned them, KMOV reported. An investigation was conducted after the police said the store had accused them of theft, but the three were let go without charges.
Rogers said the police were “just doing their job” and didn’t have any preconceived notions of the boys’ guilt, KMOV reported. Rogers also said the boys purchased something while they were in the store “to show them that we’re equal and we didn’t have to steal anything,” KMOV reported.
The St. Louis NAACP said it will get involved and will work with Nordstrom Rack’s Thomas on how to handle the situation with the employees, KMOV reported.
Nordstrom Rack said employees were trying to handle a verbal altercation at the same time as the incident with the boys, but admitted they didn’t handle the situation well, KMOV reported.
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