Walmart
- Two Black men are suing Walmart, accusing it of racial discrimination.
- The men say Walmart staff falsely accused them of stealing when they tried to return a TV.
- One broke down in tears after being handcuffed by police, the suit said.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Two Black men in their 50s are suing Walmart, alleging that the retailer falsely accused them of stealing when they tried to return a TV.
Plaintiffs Dennis Stewart, a former police officer, and Terence Richardson, a pastor, were handcuffed by police at Walmart after trying to return a $300 TV in September 2020, the lawsuit said. Stewart bought the TV earlier in the day but said it wasn't working properly, and so wanted to return it, the lawsuit said.
The two men said that when they went to return the TV, a white employee at the customer-service counter accused them of stealing it, and refused to acknowledge their receipt as proof of purchase.
They said that the associate called the police, per the lawsuit. The police arrived, handcuffed them, and took to the loss-prevention office, where Stewart broke down in tears, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Courthouse News was first to report it.
Insider contacted Walmart for comment but did not immediately hear back.
The police later released Stewart and Richardson, but the pair were asked by the store manager to sign a paper confirming that they would be arrested if they returned to the store, the lawsuit said.
The pair say that a Walmart associate shouted at them: "take this f---ing receipt, take that f---ing TV, get the f--- out of this store, and never f---ing come back."
The two men "are regularly tormented and awakened from their sleep with nightmares about what they experienced at the Walmart," the suit said.
"Such treatment hurts so deeply it is impossible to describe. It is like a cancer that eats at them every moment of the day - causing them to try to avoid people they think might be inclined to act the same way toward them," it said.
Stewart and Richardson are accusing Walmart of racial discrimination, false arrest and imprisonment, and breach of contract.
The suit said they were "dehumanized" and made to look like criminals when they were just following Walmart's returns policy.
This isn't the first time Walmart has faced a racial discrimination lawsuit. In 2018, a black customer sued the company, alleging that it was intentionally locking up inexpensive beauty products made for African Americans. Retailers often put higher-priced products in glass cases to protect them from theft.
At the time, Walmart told Insider that it does "not tolerate discrimination of any kind." It later said that it would stop putting these products behind glass cases.