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Wolfchase Galleria dress code is being questioned after a former journalist ended up in handcuffs for filming the arrest of a Black teen cited for wearing a hoodie. Kevin McKenzie a former reporter for The Commercial Appeal stated he knew something was not right when he saw a white security guard tailing a group of young men at the Memphis, TN mall.

The incident that took place on Nov. 3rd McKenzie said he intended to visit a cellphone store when the incident unfolded.

McKenzie wrote about his experience on Facebook:

As a 59-year-old black man and former journalist, my antenna went up when I rode the escalator to the second floor of Wolfchase and saw an older white male security guard following a group of young black men not far from a mall entrance. As the young men outpaced the guard and began to disappear ahead, the guard radioed someone. Within moments, an African American who appeared to be a sheriff’s deputy appeared and began directing the young men back towards the security guard. The law enforcement officer then escorted them out of the mall. I asked the deputy what the young men had done. Their hoodies had violated a mall policy, he said. It was unclear to me whether the violation involved wearing the hoods up or not; I hadn’t noticed any hoods when I first saw the security guard following them. Hoodie profiling was news to me. The young men walked into the mall parking lot, as if leaving, but soon returned to the mall entrance.

“We have rights,” I heard one say.

They walked back in and were soon met by what appeared to be at least two deputies and two Memphis police officers. They threatened the young men with arrest for criminally trespassing on private property.

For reasons I didn’t hear, one young man in what appeared to be a nylon blue and white jacket with a hood that was not on his head was handcuffed by a Memphis officer and led away as my video rolled.

McKenzie told WREG Memphis he asked why the boys were asked to leave and told that their hoodies violated a mall policy.

“I am disturbed that even today and especially today, probably because race is back on the front burner in America, young black men have a very hard time,” he told the news station. “They’re perceived as threats, and they shouldn’t be.”

The former reporter said he has never heard of this policy. Wolfchase’s Code of Conduct states shoppers’ clothing “must be appropriate” but does not specifically mention hoodies, The Commercial Appeal pointed out.

“Hoodie profiling was news to me,” he added.

The teens walked back into the mall moments later to challenge the policy, only to be greeted by “at least two deputies and two Memphis police officers,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie tried to intervene, on behave of the teens.

“You know you’re in violation of mall policy right?” an off-duty deputy says as he approaches McKenzie. “So you might want to put your phone away.”

The officer tells McKenzie to leave before he was arrested for criminal trespassing. However, after McKenzie agreed to leave the officer orders McKenzie to “put your hands behind your back” and cuffs him.

McKenzie told WREG he was taken to the mall’s security office and then downtown, where he was cited for trespassing.

“The officers could have issued me a misdemeanor citation and released me, but I was told that because I continued talking, I was going to jail,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Initially officers told the young man whose arrest I captured on video that he, too, would be going to jail because I kept talking.”

For medical issues, McKenzie told officers he couldn’t go to jail and was taken to the hospital.

The young man was also arrested, and was given a citation rather than jail time and is to appear in court at a later date. He was also asked to sign a form agreeing to be banned from the Wolfchase mall, The Commercial Appeal reported.

Wolfchase Galleria addressed the incident in the following statement:

“Wolfchase Galleria is focused on providing a safe environment for all customers and employees. We require customers to not conceal their identity while on mall property as a matter of public safety. It is important that our security cameras and security personnel be able to see the faces of everyone on property. Mall security personnel respectfully ask all customers concealing their identity to conform to the policy. Police are only called if a customer refuses or becomes belligerent. In this instance, a MPD officer repeatedly requested the individual to remove his ‘hoodie.’ He did not comply with this directive and was removed from the mall. The incident on Saturday night was managed by the Memphis Police and we refer all questions about the circumstances to MPD.”

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