‘Terrified’: Black Kansas couple says they were racially profiled at Walmart
Bracey Myles was loading groceries into his trunk Wednesday evening when two police cars pulled up next to his car.
The 26-year-old Black man said he put his hands in the air as police told him and his fiance, Alfreda Lange, 20, that they’d been accused of stealing from the store.
The encounter in the parking lot of a Holton, Kansas, Walmart went on for about 20 minutes, Lange said, while their infant son was left in the hot car. When police told Lange she couldn’t turn the car on to keep her son from overheating, Myles said, he started recording.
The video, which he later posted to Twitter, includes strong language and had been retweeted more than 50 thousand times by Thursday afternoon. Their son, Lange said, suffered a heat rash because of his time in the car.
Myles and Lange, who have lived in Holton for about a month, said they were the only Black people in the store and they believe they were victims of racial profiling.
“Sometimes they don’t have to have a reason to bother you,” Lange said. “It’s not something that should never happen. Going to Walmart to get groceries and you have to fear that ‘am I gonna walk out and the cops are going to be standing there because I’m Black and I was racially profiled.’”
The Jackson County, Kansas, Sheriff’s Office and Walmart did not respond to The Star’s request for comment before publication. Holton Police Chief Gale Gakle said his officer was called to assist with the call but he did not know much about the incident. He said to his knowledge no charges were filed.
The couple had stopped at the only Walmart in town to get food for dinner and formula for their son. They used self check out and left the store without any employees approaching them, Lange said.
When police pulled up to their car, they said, both were surprised and scared.
“I was really in disbelief that the cops were called on me for a grocery visit. I wanted it all to be over quick,” Myles said. “It seemed like they went out to humiliate and harass us.”
The three officers, who were from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Holton Police Department, asked to see the couples’ receipt and their ID’s but did not look through their groceries, Lange said. For those 20 minutes, she said, an officer held the receipt as they told the couple they were investigating.
“I think after they realized that there was nothing that occurred they were looking for an excuse as to why we were still being detained and why they were still there,” Lange said.
As they stood outside, asking the officers again and again what they were investigating, Lange said she worried her husband would become the victim of the next “unjustified shooting” by a police officer.
Protests have erupted nationwide in recent weeks after the killing of George Floyd and later Rayshard Brooks by police officers in Minneapolis and Atlanta.
“That’s my biggest fear that something might happen and they might decide it’s a justified reason when really there’s never a justified reason,” she said. “I was terrified.”
After officers decided the couple was free to go, Myles said, he tried to walk back into Walmart and file a complaint. An officer followed him and told him he needed to leave.
Myles said his video is a warning to other Black people to be careful.
“We have to put ourselves in the shoes of people who want to harm us so we can protect ourselves,” he said.
After the incident, Myles said, his boss offered to transfer him and the couple is preparing to move to another town. The Walmart, Lange said, is the only place in Holton where they could buy the formula they need for their child.
Both Myles and Lange said they’ve struggled with sleepless nights, anxiety, headaches and an inability to focus.
“I’m just trying to find my peace of mind because they took that from me,” Myles said.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 6:55 PM.
