Maine supermarket manager sends police to Black man’s home after he questions store policy

Jun 24, 2018
Rory Ferreira (Photos: Instagram)

Add “asking questions about grocery store policy” to the list of things that will get police called on Black people.

This time, a manager at a grocery store in Maine reportedly sent police to a customer’s home after he dared to question the store’s policy on liquor purchases.

The incident occurred last Tuesday at Shaw’s Supermarket in Saco, Maine and it began when Rory Ferreira, a music producer and artist who raps under the name Milo, along with his wife and young son were checking out. Ferreira was buying a bottle of sake when he was asked to show his ID for the purchase—a policy that is common in all stores.

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However, Ferreira’s wife was also asked to show her ID and while she went to the car to get her license, her husband questioned why she was being asked for ID considering he was the one purchasing the alcohol.

Ferriera said he never heard of this policy and began to question if it was a real.

“That’s ok, I didn’t know about the policy, I want to know it’s real,” Ferreira said to the Portland Press Herald. “I’m a young black man in America. I want to make sure I’m treated the same as everyone else.”

Matters take a turn for the worse

The manager quickly turned hostile toward Ferreira saying, “I don’t have to sell you alcohol. I don’t have to sell you anything,” before cancelling the order and ripping up the paper bag.

Ferreira, who was holding his son at the time, said he stayed calm and left the store. However, it didn’t end there as shortly after he arrived back home, the police arrived and handed him a no-trespass order. Effectively banning him from ever shopping at the store again.

“It was the scariest thing in the world,” he said. “I’m a young black dude, I got tattoos, I’m a rapper. I did not know what the cop would do. I was very scared. And again, I still don’t know what I’m banned for.

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“When you call the police on me and have them at my house for asking about a policy because you don’t like me, I have to wonder what you wanted to have happen to me,” he added.

Then things go further south

Ferreira told his stepfather, Jeffrey Bouley, who went directly to the store to talk to the manager. In a post his Facebook page, Bouley wrote that when he asked why his son and daughter-in-law were denied service, the manager told him they were not denied service, they were asked for their IDs and were being disruptive.

The manager denied that the encounter had anything to do with racism. Bouley said he raised his voice, and the manager called police again. When Bouley left the store, the officer was waiting for him, and issued him a no-trespass order.

The supermarket issued a statement saying that they “take situations like this” seriously and said that they will investigate it “thoroughly.”

“Last night, we reached out to the customer to begin a dialogue and today we personally met with him and members of his family to further discuss the situation as we continue to conduct our internal investigation,” the statement added.

Ferreira said the company did apologize and quickly lifted the no-trespass order. However, the manager involved in the incident did not attend the meeting and has not apologized. He is now looking for an attorney and is looking at legal options.

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