Treme actor Rob Brown, who was handcuffed and accused of using a fake credit card while trying to purchase a watch for his mother at Macy's flagship store in New York City's Herald Square, has settled his lawsuit against the department store.
According to the New York Daily News, Brown has reached an agreement in his "shop-and-frisk racial profiling" lawsuit.
"The court has been informed that the parties have reached a settlement in principle," Manhattan Federal Judge Lorna Schofield wrote in court papers viewed by the Daily News Thursday.
In the lawsuit Brown, 30, claimed that on June 8, 2013, he was handcuffed and detained after being accused of using a fake credit card to buy his mother a $1,300 watch.
Brown filed a lawsuit shortly after the incident claiming false imprisonment, negligent training and civil rights allegations. He was seeking unspecified monetary damages and a "court order forcing Macy's and the NYPD to stop the alleged practice of targeting minorities who shop at high-end stores," the Daily News notes.
A spokeswoman for Macy's told the Daily News that " … lawsuits by various plaintiffs who alleged racial profiling by Macy's have been settled in principle. … Our company strictly prohibits discrimination of any kind and has zero tolerance for racial profiling."
A lawyer for the city told the Daily News that agreements have been reached in principle and the details are still being finalized.
Brown's lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, who also represents others who have filed suits against department stores for racial profiling, told the Daily News that terms have been reached, but he wouldn't be specific about the terms of the settlement.
Maria Paez, whom Wigdor also represents, has reached a settlement in principle, too, the Daily News notes. Paez was stopped and placed in the Macy's in-store jail after she was accused of stealing clothes that she placed in a Macy's bag to purchase once her son was done trying on items.
Read more at the New York Daily News.