Trayon Christian Wins Settlement From New York City Over “Shop & Frisk” Profiling At Barneys

THE COLLEGE STUDENT AT THE CENTER OF THE CONTROVERSY AWARDED $45K

(AllHipHop News) Back in 2013, Trayon Christian insisted he was wrongfully profiled at a Barneys New York store in NYC. After purchasing a $349 Ferragamo belt, Christian claimed he was stopped by two undercover NYPD detectives just because he was a young, black male. A Barneys employee apparently contacted police over concerns the debit card Christian used for the purchase may not have been his.

[ALSO READ: Macy’s And Barneys Are Being Investigated By NY Attorney General For Racial Profiling]

Christian later sued Barneys and the city over violation of his civil rights. According to reports, the New York City College of Technology engineering student has now won a $45,000 settlement from NYC.

“Settling was in the best interest of the city,” said Nick Paolucci, a spokesperson for the city’s law department.

In 2014, Barneys agreed to pay $525,000 in fines to settle claims of racial profiling. The company also agreed to implement measures to reduce profiling of African Americans by employees. It is not clear if Christian or any other customers that filed complaints were awarded money directly from Barneys.

The Barneys “Shop & Frisk” or “Shopping While Black” stories became national news partly due to superstar rapper Jay Z debuting a special collection at the high-end retailer around the same time the profiling complaints became public.

There were calls for the Hip Hop mogul to cancel his partnership with Barneys, but Jay decided to move forward with the holiday release. The concerns of profiling eventually led to 100% of the proceeds from sales of the BNY SCC collection being donated to the Shawn Carter Foundation.

[ALSO READ: Jay Z’s Controversial Barneys Collection Surpasses $1 Million In Sales]