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After police called on black customer, CVS fires employees

Posted at 7:52 PM, Jul 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-16 20:52:30-04

CVS Pharmacy announced on Monday that it has fired two employees from one of its Chicago stores after an employee called police on a black customer. 

On Saturday, Camilla Hudson published a video on Facebook showing the manager's phone call to 911. 

As the man was on the phone with police describing Hudson, Hudson said. "Tell them I'll be waiting for them when they arrive. You can tell them her name is Camilla Hudson and I have ID and will show it."

On a subsequent Facebook post, Hudson said that she presented CVS with a coupon she received in exchange from a manufacturer for a defective product. Hudson said the manager told her on duty that the coupon appeared to be fraudulent. 

That's when Hudson said she asked the manager for his name and job title, and the man was rude with her. She then claimed she got out her cellphone to record the exchange. 

"I followed him and demanded that he answer my question, he ran to the back of the store and slammed a door in my face," Hudson said. "Meanwhile, the other manager, who’d been helping me initially, came running back to tell me that I’d better leave the store immediately, because he’d called the police."

The Chicago Sun-Times identified the manager on duty as Morry Matson.  The Sun-Times reported that he was a state delegate for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, and ran for Chicago City Council. 

Hudson's video went viral, being viewed by more than 300,000 Facebook users. 

On Monday, CVS said it has reached out to Hudson, offering an apology. 

"We have completed our investigation, and as a result, the two colleagues who were involved are no longer employed by CVS Health," CVS said in a statement. " CVS Health does not tolerate any practice that discriminates against any customer."

CVS added that profiling or discriminating by its employees is prohibited. 

CVS is the latest company having to respond to viral incidents of police being called on customers. In May, Starbucks mandated its employees to take a cultural sensitivity training after police were called on two black customers at a Philadelphia Starbucks in April who were accused of loitering.