Target has fired an employee after a 20-year-old woman falsely accused of stealing a bikini was forced to 'walk of shame' and pull down her pants

Kate Taylor

  • Target has fired an employee after a 20-year-old woman was falsely accused of shoplifting a bikini at the retailer.

  • The woman, Ashonae Davis, says she was handcuffed, forced to "walk of shame" through the Target store, and then made to pull up her shirt and pull down her pants in front of two male loss-prevention officers.

  • Davis and her attorneys say she was racially profiled.

  • "We want everyone who shops at Target to feel welcomed and respected and take any allegations of mistreatment seriously," the company said in a statement.

A 20-year-old woman says she is planning to sue Target after being falsely accused of shoplifting at the retailer.

Ashonae Davis was accused of stealing a bikini at a Target location in Southfield, Michigan, in late May, local news station WJBK reports.

According to Davis, she was attempting to leave the store when a loss-prevention officer grabbed her arm. A second loss-prevention officer then reportedly handcuffed Davis.

Davis and her attorneys say that she was forced to walk backwards through the store while handcuffed in a "walk of shame." As she walked, she says, an officer yelled loudly that she was "stealing panty swimwear underneath her clothing," WJBK reports.

In the loss-prevention office, Davis allegedly was forced to pull up her shirt and pull down her pants to show she hadn't stolen anything. While a female manager was reportedly called over to help, Davis says the two male officers never left the room.

"I was so scared," Davis told WJBK. "I had never had anything close or near to that happen to me."

Civil-rights attorney Jasmine Rand said in a press conference that she believes Davis was racially profiled. Davis says she is now planning to sue Target after the incident.

Target has fired an employee who was "directly involved" in the situation, the company said in a statement to WJBK.

"We want everyone who shops at Target to feel welcomed and respected and take any allegations of mistreatment seriously," the company said.

The statement continued: "We're sorry for the actions of our former team member, who created an experience we don't want any guest to have at Target. Upon reviewing our team's actions, we terminated the team member who was directly involved and are addressing the situation with the security team at the store."

This isn't the first time that Target has come under fire for its "walk of shame." In 2015, more than half a dozen workers told Business Insider that the retailer has a practice of parading workers through stores in handcuffs to discourage theft and other infractions.

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