MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks center John Henson said Monday that he was racially profiled outside a Wisconsin jewelry store in an incident the shop owner said was a misunderstanding.
Henson posted an account of the incident on Instagram, saying workers at the Whitefish Bay shop where he’d intended to look at a watch locked the door and told him to leave.
Henson, who is black, said he was questioned by police officers about the vehicle he was driving and what he wanted to purchase. He called the incident “degrading.”
Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers owner Thomas Dixon told WISN-TV the incident was a misunderstanding over Henson’s vehicle. Police had asked employees to be on the lookout for certain types of cars, he said.
Whitefish Bay Police issued a two-page statement detailing the department’s recent interactions with the store and Henson. It said the department had advised the store to call police if a Red Tahoe like Henson’s arrived after one parked outside the store days earlier raised suspicions that its plates were stolen.
Henson said in his post that the car was part of an endorsement deal with a Chevrolet dealer.
The statement said the officers were dispatched to the store Monday afternoon “as the Red Tahoe had returned.” The officers talked to Henson then requested that the employees open the door, it said.
The officers who questioned Henson never asked for his ID and left the area after the store reopened, according to the statement.
The Bucks released a statement Monday afternoon calling the incident “very troubling.”
“Nobody should be treated that way. We are trying to contact the store directly,” the statement said.
Henson was the 14th overall pick out of North Carolina in 2012. He signed a four-year contract extension with the Bucks earlier this month.
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