Pembroke Pines, FL — H&M is once again under fire after Daniela Taylor, an African-American woman, claims that she was racially profiled by a security at one of the company’s stores at Pembroke Lakes Mall in Florida. Daniela Taylor says she was falsely accused of shoplifting, and was humiliated by H&M staff because she was Black.
Daniela said she went to H&M in Pembroke Lakes Mall on September 25 to return a pair of earrings and decided to buy a different pair. When she was walking out of the store, two loss-prevention officers approached her, accused her of stealing the earrings, ripped her bag and phone, and humiliated her in front of many people.
What made her more upset is that one of the loss-prevention officers was a Black male and he didn’t even listen to her.
“I’m cursing because obviously, I have already told him I didn’t do anything. I said, ‘You should understand where I’m coming from. If you were on the other end of the table, you should understand how they do us these days.’ He said, ‘Don’t pull the race card on me,'” she recounted.
After reviewing the security footage, the officers realized she didn’t steal anything. Daniela said the security officers did apologize but she feels H&M should do more than just that.
“They need to be better at who they hire. They really need to look into people and do the extensive training that needs to be done,” she said.
Since the incident, H&M has issued a statement regarding the incident saying, “Unfortunately this was a misunderstanding and we are sorry. We have since let go of the third party security company that was involved and we are reviewing our internal procedures to make sure this type of incident does not happen again.”
Watch her interview below:
