a young black male won a $45,000 settlement against barney's on wednesday, january 20. trayon christian, 18, sued the high-end clothing store and the new york police department (nypd) in october, 2013, claiming they profiled him for credit card fraud and buying a $349 designer belt on april 27, 2013.
christian, a queens resident, was hassled by two nypd detectives after he purchased the reversible black and white ferragamo's belt. an engineering student and part-time employee at the new york city college of technology at the time, christian felt he was detained because they believed he couldn't afford the belt.
christian said, "they said my card wasn't real, it was fake. they said someone at barney's called to report it." they detectives asked to see his id and look in his bag and whether and where he worked. he said, "the detectives were asking me, 'how could you afford a bag like this?' where did you get this money from?"
the detectives cuffed christian and took him to the 19th precinct station house, where he was kept in a holding cell for two hours. after he was released, the nypd said he was there for only 40 minutes. in august, 2014, barney's agreed to pay $525,000 in fines to settle racial profiling claims.
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