CVS manager calls police on black woman over coupon
A black woman said a CVS store manager in Chicago called the police after questioning the legitimacy of her coupon -- and posted the confrontation on social media in a video that has gone viral.
Camilla Hudson told ABC News that when she went into the CVS in Edgewater Glen Friday night and the coupon didn't work, the manager, Morry Matson, asked for help from another supervisor. That's when that unidentified manager questioned whether the coupon was fraudulent.
"In saying it’s fraudulent and it looks handwritten, which it didn’t to me, he [the manager assisting Matson] was essentially calling me a liar, a thief, a forger," Hudson told ABC News.
Matson then called the police -- and Hudson began recording him with her cell phone.
During the phone call with police, Matson -- who appears to be visibly shaking -- describes Hudson as “African-American,” to which she responds, “Black."
"No, I’m not African-American, I’m black," she can be heard saying off camera. "Black isn’t a bad word.”
Hudson said in her Facebook post that three officers responded to Matson’s call, and she spoke with them before leaving the store. She said the police then told her that Matson, as an employee of CVS, had the right to ask her to leave the property. She says she was not asked to do that until the officers arrived.
The Chicago Police Department said officers responded to a call of "an assault in progress."
"Police were informed that a female was inside the store threatening the staff and refusing to leave," the department said in a statement. "Victim did not press charges and no police report was filed."
But Hudson said she was just angry because of the accusation that she'd try to use a fake coupon.
"There was no intention, there was no agenda, I was just upset. I’d been confronted, I’d been called a liar, a thief, a forger, about a coupon at a pharmacy. So I made my post and it was only when I got home did I add a review to the CVS website. I added the video to my original post and then it’s blossomed and grown into what it is now," Hudson told ABC News.
The post has been shared by more than 200 people and viewed by more than 125,000 as of Sunday night.
A CVS spokesperson said they later contacted Hudson. The company said in a statement that it has begun an "investigation."
“We will take any corrective action that is warranted to prevent it from happening again,” the spokesman said. “CVS Pharmacy does not tolerate any practices that discriminate against any customer and we are committed to maintaining a welcoming and diverse environment in our stores.”
Matson declined to comment to ABC News about the incident.
This incident follows a recent string of what some people are calling racist incidents around the country that have gone viral online. Many of these incidents are generally followed by criticisms on social media.
Earlier this month, an unidentified white woman in Georgia threatened to report a black woman for smoking in a parking garage.
In June, a woman in Oakland called the police on a young black girl selling water bottles outside of her apartment complex.
And in May, Jennifer Schulte, a white woman, called the police on a group of black people who were legally barbecuing at a public park in Oakland.
