A Portland man has been awarded $35,000 by jurors in Multnomah County after he says he was forced to strip down to just his pants in a Northeast Portland Walgreen's store.
Henry Peth, 44, immigrated to the U.S. from Ghana, an African farming community, in 2000 to go to school. He started working and met his wife a short time later.
When he went to Walgreens, 2829 N. Lombard St., to buy Christmas lights to surprise his wife on Black Friday 2010, he was accused of shoplifting.
"The store assistant manager approached me and said I put something in my pocket," Peth said.
While he was looking for Christmas lights, a store employee told a manager that he saw Peth stealing batteries, placing them in his shirt.
Peth said the store manager asked him what was in his pocket, and he showed him his cell phone.
According to Peth, the store employees then asked him to take off his three layers of clothing to find where he stashed the batteries.
"I was standing there half naked," Peth said.
The public humiliation has given Peth nightmares and made him scared to go shopping alone.
Peth sued Walgreens, and after a three day trial last week, Peth was awarded $35,000 in damages due to being confined by employees in an unreasonable manner by a 9-3 vote.
Peth's attorney, Jason Kafoury, said the employee who made the accusations against Peth was never given any formal loss prevention training, and never testified in court.
Kafoury said the employees should have taken Peth to a private room to search him, not in the middle of an aisle.
Peth said where he is from stealing is a major crime and those caught are publicly humiliated and beaten. Peth was honored for his honesty as a teenager, and grew up in a culture where stealing is not tolerated.
He said his royal family was pleased to hear their name had been cleared in court. Peth's uncle is the king in a part of Northwest Ghana.
