Bay Area police have been called on African-American people selling water, enjoying a BBQ, and now giving dog food to a homeless man for his dog.

Mountain View Safeway employees reported a possible theft involving Erika Martin, who said she went to the store on Shoreline Boulevard with her family to help homeless residents. Police determined that no crime occurred.

Martin said the incident on the evening of July 8 was a case of racial profiling because employees associated her with an adult black man in the store they suspected of shoplifting.

“It made me really upset that somebody would accuse me of taking items knowing I was only there to do a good deed, but I was accused of doing something wrong,” Martin said. “It was just hurtful, just embarrassing.”

The Sunnyvale resident went to the Safeway with her son, two sisters, three nieces, and nephew after attending service at Christ Temple Community Church in Palo Alto. Martin said she and her son arrived first and gave dog food to a homeless man who she usually sees outside the store with his dog.

Her sisters arrived a little later with hygiene care items packaged by church members for two other homeless men who hang out in the shopping center. Her sisters later went into the store to buy food at a Starbucks for the homeless men, but it was closed.

Martin said because she and her sisters go to the store three or four times a week, the children — the oldest is 13 years old — knew the store bakery gives away free cookies. Her son and some of the cousins went inside to see if there were any free cookies. They were told there weren’t any.

As her son was getting inside her car, a Safeway manager came outside and “that’s when he looked at me crazy,” Martin said.

A few minutes later, when she was getting ready to leave, a police car pulled up behind her car.

Five Mountain View police officers responded to a call by Safeway identifying a male, female, and some children possibly being connected in a theft, according to public information officer Katie Nelson. Employees also identified Martin’s parked car as being involved in the shoplifting.

Nelson said the number of officers, which included a new officer accompanied by a senior training officer, was appropriate. The department tries to have an officer stand with and speak with each connected party while a lead officer goes around, gathers information and reports back to review the case’s facts.

They spoke to Martin and other family members for a total of about 20 minutes, according to Nelson, but Martin said the questioning went on for 30 minutes. She said she felt really nervous and didn’t know what was going on.

Officers did a cursory search of her sister’s car. Safeway employees told the officers a woman wearing a white spaghetti-strap top entered the store with children and “had made eye contact” with the man they suspected of shoplifting and then walked out of the store. Erika’s sister, Faith was wearing a gray sleeveless dress that day.

“Throughout the interaction with all parties involved, our officers acted with the utmost consideration in this call,” Nelson said. “They were polite, and they exhibited exemplary respect and consideration as they conducted their brief investigation. Our officers did their due diligence in investigating the theft report, as any of our officers would do in any situation to which they are called.”

Nelson added the family was extremely helpful and cooperative, noting at least one member of the family talked with officers about church and their pets.

“We were very appreciative of the way the family allowed our officers to wrap up the call, and we apologize for inconveniencing their evening,” Nelson said.

Martin said she had never seen her son Christopher, age 9, so scared before. He stuttered and cried as he explained to the officers how he and his cousin looked behind the counter to see if there were any cookies left.

Martin said Christopher thought the police were going to arrest him for looking behind the counter.

Martin received an apology from a Safeway manager who was not present at the time of the incident, but has not received an apology from corporate. A Safeway spokesperson, Wendy Gutshall, said the company “contacted Ms. Martin to sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding and we look forward to continuing the discussion regarding her concerns.”

“Safeway is committed to fostering an environment of treating everyone with courtesy, dignity, and respect,” Gutshall said in a statement. “We have strong policies against racial discrimination and we do not tolerate violations to the policy.”

Gutshall said Safeway’s internal investigation of the incident is ongoing.

Safeway employees receive training on policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment when they are hired and periodically after. The company held store-wide employee meetings reinforcing the policies prohibiting racial discrimination and racial profiling of customers earlier this year. Safeway started to develop implicit bias training for store employees at that time and plans to implement it soon.

“There is too much hate in this world and not enough love,” Martin said. “People see, all they see is color, and they don’t see the person. All they see is color. And that’s what really bothers me.”