She looked around the boutique and saw other customers now staring at the confrontation. She saw Patricia Patterson standing near a display rack watching the scene with barely concealed satisfaction. Bennett turned back to the officer with disbelief in her voice. "Are you serious right now? I'm shopping.
That's what people do in clothing stores. I'm holding dresses that I selected to try on. Is this because I'm black?" Patterson held up his hand in a gesture that was meant to look calming but came across as this condescending. "Ma'am, I need you to calm down.
I'm just responding to a call and doing my job. I need to see some form of identification." Bennett's jaw tightened with anger, but she kept her voice controlled. "Identification for what, exactly? I haven't done anything wrong.
I'm a customer in a store selecting dresses to try on in the fitting room. That's not a crime." Patterson's professional mask slipped slightly and his underlying racism showed through clearly. "Look, let's be real here. Someone like you in this expensive boutique looks kind of suspicious.
People like you don't normally shop in places like this. So, I need to see some ID and verify who you are." The words hung in the air like poison. Several customers gasped audibly. Someone pulled out their phone and started recording.
Bennett stared at Officer Patterson with a mixture of fury and disbelief. "Someone like me?" Bennett repeated, her voice tight with controlled anger. "People like me? You mean black people, officer?
You're saying black people don't shop in expensive stores? Patterson's face flushed slightly, but he doubled down. "I'm saying I received a call about suspicious activity and I need to verify your identification. That's all." Bennett shifted the dresses to one arm and pulled her wallet from her purse.
She extracted her driver's license and held it out to Patterson. "Here's my identification. Now, unless you're charging me with a crime, I'm going to continue shopping." Patterson took the ID and barely glanced at it before handing it back. In his mind, he'd already decided that Bennett didn't belong in this boutique, regardless of what her identification said.