A Walmart customer in Portland, Oregon sued Walmart for racial profiling, and won $4.4 million in damages.

A Multnomah County grand jury ordered Walmart to pay the man, Michael Mangum, 60, and said he was racially profiled by a Walmart employee in one of Portland’s stores in 2020.

The lawsuit stated that the white employee was spying on the black customer while he was shopping, asked him to leave the store, and called the police when he refused to. 

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Mangum was shopping for a refrigerator light bulb and was being watched as he browsed.  The employee, Joe Williams, asked Mangum to leave the store and called police. He told the dispatch operator he “had a person refusing to leave.”

Mangum and his lawyers deny that he did anything wrong, and deputies who responded to the call for help by Williams did not remove or arrest Mangum, and said that Williams had a reputation for making false accusations. 

According to the customer’s lawyers, as a result of the incident, the Sheriff and one of his deputies had a meeting with the store’s managers. The officers said that Williams had a “pattern of behavior” in which he would report “dangerous active situations” that turned out to be false when officers arrived. 

The store did not fire Williams until months later, due to another matter. 

Williams denied Mangum’s allegations and said that he had been threatened by the Mangum. 

Mangum decided to file the lawsuit against Walmart for what he perceived as racial discrimination. 

Greg Kafoury, Mangum’s trial lawyer, said in a statement, “He lives the same message of self-respect that he teaches to young people, ‘stand up for yourself when you know you’re right.’” “Because of his courage, we were able to show the jury an unconscionable failure of responsibility by the world’s largest corporation.”

A Walmart spokesperson responded to reporters, “We do not tolerate discrimination. We believe the verdict is excessive and is not supported by the evidence.” He said that the employee was doing his job in surveilling shoplifters and that Mangum refused to leave even though he was asked several times to do so. 

The Walmart spokesperson said that the company is reviewing its options regarding the grand jury’s decision to award $4.4 million dollars to Mangum.