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Versace Footwear VP Says Cops Profiled Him While Leaving Store

Salehe Bembury’s run-in with the LAPD is yet another reason why the police should be defunded. Bembury, who serves as the Vice President of Sneakers and Men’s Footwear at Versace, was walking out of the Versace store in Beverly Hills when he was stopped for jaywalking. With a Versace bag in hand, police ID’d him and frisked him down.

He sounds terrified in the clip as the cops try to make it seem that what they’re doing is protocol. One of the cops even compliments Bembury’s shoes before he tells him that he designed the pair that are in the bag he’s carrying.

“So, I’m in Beverly Hills right now and I’m getting searched for shopping at the store I work for and just being Black,” he says in a video of the immediate aftermath. The cop immediately tries to interrupt him, claiming that Bembury’s trying to change the narrative.

In a video posted to social media, he explained that he had visited his friend’s store in Beverly Hills and was walking to his car when police pulled him over.

Donatella Versace later shared his video to her Instagram page in solidarity with Bembury. “I am appalled this happened to Salehe Bembury today. He has been a consultant at Versace for a long time and the behavior he experienced is totally unacceptable. He was stopped on the street solely for the color of his skin,” she wrote.

Beverly Hills PD responded to the video, saying Bembury consented to be searched.

[Via]

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Artist Spotlight

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