Walmart to Pay Oregon Customer $4.4M for Racial Profiling
Michael Mangum alleged a former Walmart employee falsely told police he threatened to hit him
A grand jury in Multnomah County, Oregon, voted against Walmart in a complaint filed by a man who claimed racial profiling and harassment following an incident involving an employee in 2020.
In a verdict signed last Friday, Walmart was ordered to pay $4.4 million in damages to Michael Mangum, whom the lawsuit alleges was “spied on” by Walmart employee Joe Williams while he shopped for a light bulb at a store in Wood Village, Oregon, on March 26, 2020.
“When Mr. Mangum protested that he had done nothing wrong,” the lawsuit as uploaded and shared by KGW News. “defendant Williams ordered him to leave the business, then called non-emergency police dispatch and summoned police, saying that he ‘had a guy refusing to leave.”
According to the lawsuit, Williams informed the dispatcher that Mangum, who was 59 at the time, had not acted violently or appeared inebriated, and that the customer “just continues checking me out” and “started flipping off on me” when the two passed each other in the store.
Mangum’s lawyers said deputies with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office responded and “refused to take action against Mangum,” based on Williams’ “shifting explanations” for calling the police and because the employee had apparently developed a reputation among local law enforcement for unnecessarily calling the police, according to the Associated Press and the lawsuit.
“Defendant Walmart, by and through its management officials was aware that Williams had, on previous occasions, provided false information about customers to police officers, and knew that police had complained that he was not to be trusted,” the lawsuit said.
According to the Associated Press, the day after the initial incident, Sheriff’s Sergeant Bryan White and another deputy met with store management at the Wood Village location and informed them that Williams had developed a “pattern of behavior” in which he reported “dangerous active situations” at the store that were not actually occurring. Mangum’s attorneys also claimed that Williams lied to police when he said their client threatened to “smash him in the face.”
Mangum’s lawsuit alleged that the superstore was negligent “in retaining Williams in a loss prevention capacity” and “in failing to supervise Williams so as to prevent foreseeable violations of customers’ rights by Williams.”
Williams was ultimately fired by Walmart in July 2020 for “mishandling $35 off Walmart property,” according to the AP.
Mangum filed the lawsuit against Walmart in December 2021 for negligent retention and action against the person who summons police with improper intent, according to the lawsuit and the AP.
According to a statement received by KGW News on Tuesday, Mangum works with residents of a Portland housing project and as a counselor for young people at risk of gang involvement, and “his positions would have been at considerable risk had he been charged with a crime.”
“[Mangum] embodies the same attitude of self-respect that he teaches young people:’stand up for yourself when you feel you’re right.'” Greg Kafoury, Mangum’s lawyer, stated in the announcement. “We were able to show the jury an inexcusable failure of accountability by the world’s largest corporation because of his daring.”
In a statement, Walmart senior director of national media relations Randy Hargrove called last Friday’s verdict “excessive.”
“We do not tolerate discrimination. We believe the verdict is excessive and is not supported by the evidence,” Hargrove said in the statement. “Mr. Mangum was never stopped by Walmart’s Asset Protection. He interfered with our associates as they were surveilling and then stopped confirmed shoplifters, and then refused to leave despite being asked to repeatedly by our staff and Multnomah County deputies. We are reviewing our options including post-trial motions.”