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Adding to a recent uptick in unnecessary police responses as it relates to Black people not breaking the law, a St. Louis County, Mo. IHOP has become the latest site of such an instance. According to reports, 10 Black incoming freshmen at Washington University were forced to march back to the restaurant by police after being accused of not paying their bill earlier this month and the case is under review by authorities.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports:
Even though some of the students had receipts showing they had paid for their meals, police made all of them walk three blocks back to the restaurant, with six squad cars following them. At the restaurant, the manager told officers the students were not those who had left without paying.
“Needless to say, the students were shaken and upset,” wrote Rob Wild, associate vice chancellor for student transition and engagement, in an email last week to other Washington U. administrators. “This is obviously extremely disappointing. Not how any of us would like to welcome our new students.”
Wild said in his email that the students “did not really appear to fit the description of the suspects other than being black.”
Washington University Chancellor Michael Wrighton issued an email statement, calling the July 7 incident “unacceptable.”
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Photo: Getty
