NJ Target Shopper Racially Profiled, Unlawfully Detained, Lawsuit Says

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ — A man is accusing a Passaic County Target and its employee of racially profiling him and accusing him of shoplifting, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

Joseph Brown, of Newark, is suing Target, the retailer’s Clifton location, and an unnamed Clifton Target cashier for racial discrimination over an incident that took place in May.

On May 28, Brown, described in the suit as a Black man of African American descent, was shopping in the Kingsland Road Target while carrying his own bookbag.

As he was checking out, a cashier accused Brown of shoplifting and attempted to search Brown’s bag. According to court documents, the employee assured Brown that the search was “corporate policy” and that he would be written up if he did not search the bag.

“The cashier did not objectively see Mr. Brown take any items or even open his personal bag and therefore had no reasonable suspicion/probable cause to detain and search his bag,” the suit reads. “Despite having made no effort whatsoever to conduct a genuine investigation, Target’s employee falsely, discriminatorily, and maliciously inferred, accused, unlawfully detained, and illegally searched (Brown) based on racial stereotypes.”

The suit says that Brown “was belittled, humiliated in front of other patrons in the store,” as a result of the incident.

Following the incident, Brown filed a complaint and was put in contact with Target's Human Resources Department.

A human resources agent informed Brown that a Target cashier is not trained or authorized to search, or request to search, the bag of a suspected shoplifter, as that is a job for the retailer’s Loss Prevention team, the suit says.

Throughout the summer, Brown had reached out to both the Target in Clifton as well as the corporate office in an attempt to escalate his complaint. He eventually received a “boilerplate typical corporate response,” and followed up again, according to court documents.

In September, a corporate representative assigned him a new complaint case number and assured him he would hear back within three days, the suit reads. The suit says that was the last time he’d heard from Target.

Brown’s complaint with jury demand, filed on Thursday, cites ten claims, including race discrimination, national origin discrimination, negligent training, negligent supervision, defamation, and unlawful detainment.

“(Brown) lost his good name by being accused of theft based on his race, and he has suffered the indignities of discrimination and egregious emotional trauma that will plague him for his entire life, all on the basis of (Brown’s) race,” the suit reads.

Brown is represented by Nicholas Anthony Pagliara of Pagliara Law Group, based in Union City.

Patch has reached out to Target Corporation for comment, and has not yet received a response.