BLUE ASH, Ohio – Video footage revealed the moment a loss prevention officer with a Target store in Ohio punched an aggressive woman in the face after she followed him and forced her way into his office while demanding her $1,000 grocery bill be paid by the store in “reparations,” according to reports.
The confrontation occurred in October at the Target megastore in Blue Ash, Ohio. It began when a shopper identified as Karen Ivery, 37, asked a cashier for their manager regarding the bill and reparations, the Daily Mail reported.
According to a police report reviewed by the New York Post, the cashier told responding officers that Ivery brought up reparations several times during their brief encounter before the manager arrived.
During a conversation with the manager, Ivery demanded reparations. When she was reportedly told that was not possible, she became angry and walked “aggressively” toward the manager, the police report said.
The manager said that if she wanted a donation, she would need to call in the morning. She claimed this caused her to become verbally aggressive.
As the exchange became more intense, “Ivery kept berating her about reparations and her privileged life,” the report said, as the patron continued walking toward the manager.
CCTV footage from the store showed the woman walking forcefully towards the manager, which led her to put her hands up and back into a nearby counter.
Loss prevention officer Zach Cotter, 28, can then be seen running across the store to interrupt the escalating altercation.
Cotter told Ivery to settle down, before video footage showed her backing him into the security office. Although he tried to shut the door, she continued to move forward and forced her way in, which is when he punched her in the face, causing her to fall to the floor, according to the police report.
Immediately afterward Cotter called the police, the Daily Mail reported.
Police responded to the scene and reviewed CCTV footage of the incident. After reviewing surveillance video and interviewing the involved parties, they determined Ivery was the “aggressor” and she was placed under arrest.
“Ivery was confrontational with officers on the scene and didn’t want to explain her actions,” the arrest report said, according to the New York Post.
In bodycam video of the incident on YouTube, Ivery told an officer she wanted the cashier to contact the manager “so we could have a larger conversation about how money works, and how the provision works, and how it’s been working in our community in a very wrong way.”
Ivery claimed, “This is my Rosa Parks moment.”
According to the Daily Mail, Ivery was sentenced to a day in jail for disorderly conduct and fined $110.
