High-end Williamsburg boutique Amarcord typically stays open until 8 p.m. on Fridays, but last night the security gate was rolled down by the time protesters started gathering at 6 p.m. for a planned demonstration outside the store. Last Friday, Brooklyn attorney Nancy Bedard and her daughter were handcuffed by police on Bedford Avenue after Amarcord employees accused them of shoplifting. But no stolen merchandise was found, and Bedard, who is black, says the white employee targeted her and her daughter because of their race.

Bedard and her 19-year-old daughter were trying on clothes in Amarcord around 7 pm. on May 4th. The boutique's attorney, Daniel Kron, said the pair were exhibiting a "furtive type of behavior" and "were not acting as though they were normal customers trying on clothing." According to Kron, Bedard and her daughter were "constantly going in and out of the same dressing room, coming out with different numbers of clothing... When two people go into the same dressing room together, that's a red flag that something might be going on."

Yesterday, Bedard fired back at Kron, telling Gothamist, "They're making up a lot of lies. They have two dressing rooms, okay, and they walked us into the dressing room, holding the items, pulled back the curtain, and asked us to go in together. The other dressing room was being occupied by a man. We acted like any other normal customer. Tried on the clothes, came out, looked at ourselves in the mirror. I shop all the time and I've never had these problems before."

Bedard said that after trying on clothes, a white employee said there was one item of clothing missing. Bedard said she denied this and, after an argument, left Amarcord with her daughter. Another employee followed them outside as they walked away, insisting they had stolen something. According to Bedard, this employee told her that "the other clerk saw me come into the store and knew I wasn't going to buy anything, and that my intention was to steal."

The employee allegedly told Bedard that the store's video camera footage showed her stealing, and proceeded to follow her and her daughter down Bedford Avenue, "berating us, calling us thieves," according to Bedard.

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Bedard, wearing a gray top at center, stands with protesters outside Amarcord. (Gothamist)

Police were called to the scene and immediately handcuffed Bedard and her daughter. After being cuffed for some time, Bedard said "a white shirt officer came over to [the officers] and asked them if they had checked my bag. They said no, and then they took my bag, that was just a shoebox that was wide open at the top, and opened it, and of course there was nothing in it but the shoes I had purchased down the street. Then they tried to put the handcuffs back on me, I have no idea why, and the white shirt officer told them to stop."

Bedard said the handcuffs caused bruising and abrasions, and that both she and her daughter were "crying hysterically. EMS took us to Woodhull Hospital. Two police cars followed us to the hospital, and four police officers followed us around the hospital the entire time, until maybe 11 o'clock at night, when they finally gave me back my identification. I said, 'Where's the report?' They said they voided the arrest."

Last night the NYPD issued the following statement announcing an internal investigation into the incident:

On Friday, May 4, 2018 at around 7:30 p.m., police responded to a report of a larceny-in-progress at 233 Bedford Avenue, in the 94 Precinct. A store employee called 911 to report two women had stolen a dress from the location.

Upon arrival, officers interviewed the store employee who identified two women the employee believed had stolen property. The two women were detained for a brief period of time by officers as they conducted a preliminary investigation. During that investigation, no property was found, and the store employee became uncertain that the two individuals removed any property.

Assistant Chief Maddrey has been briefed on this incident. He immediately launched an internal investigation by the borough’s investigations unit. He also directed that the patrol supervisor, a lieutenant, be transferred until an investigation is complete.

Approximately 50 protesters attended the rally, many of them attorneys, union members, and friends of Bedard, who works for Brooklyn Legal Services Corp. B. Sarah Telson, a staff attorney at Legal Services NYC, told Gothamist, "This is about racist people calling the cops on black people and getting them killed. It's unfortunate black people can't live in this world without being arrested, without the police being weaponized against them."

For two hours, the energized group picketed in front of the boutique, chanting, "White lies endanger black lives! Being black is not a threat!" and "Boycott Amarcord!"

The store's owners, Patti Bordoni and Marco Liotta, were not present, but a large sign in the window conveyed Amarcord's message to its customers. Posted online on Friday afternoon, the statement, in part, maintains that Bedard or her daughter "threatened our employee’s safety, humiliated her and berated her race, class, and physical appearance. The NYPD were called at the suggestion of these patrons, as well as our employees who hoped they could help to diffuse the issue. The patrons were uncooperative. What happened after that was beyond our control.

"Since then, the patrons have proceeded to defame our company. It is devastating to see our small company and our names smeared and boycotted, especially when the incident did not happen the way it has been portrayed."

Korn, Amarcord's attorney, said on Friday that Bedard "played the race card. Nothing racially motivated happened. It just so happened that it was an African-American who had gone into a dressing room with another woman, which is also a red flag."

Halfway through the protest, a woman on a bicycle pulled up and shouted at the demonstrators in defense of Liotta, who is from Italy. "He is an immigrant too," the woman, who is white and would only identify herself as a "foreigner," said. "This store's been here 20 years, this is the first time I've heard something like this! Get over this shit, nobody's racist!"

A black female protester, who declined to be interviewed by Gothamist, angrily confronted the woman to say that the reason she's now hearing about a racial profiling incident is "because it happened to a lawyer this time." The woman on the bike shrugged and rode away.

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(Gothamist)