19 YR OLD STUDENT SUING BARNEY'S AND NYPD FOR BEING BLACK BUYING AN EXPENSIVE DESIGNER BELT BUST

BARNEY'S

A black, 19-year-old Queens student got more than he bargained for when he splurged on a $350 designer belt at Barneys — clerks had him cuffed because they didn’t think he could afford the pricey purchase, even though he’d paid for it, according to a new lawsuit.
“His only crime was being a young black man,” his attorney, Michael Palillo, told the news.

Trayon Christian, a NYC College of Technology freshman from Corona, trekked to the Madison Avenue fashion mecca in April to buy the Salvatore Ferragamo accessory after saving up his paychecks from a part time job at the college.

But as soon he exited the luxury department store undercover officers grabbed Christian and asked, “How a young black man such as himself could afford to purchase such an expensive belt,” according to the suit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

A Barneys clerk, who had asked Christian for identification when he bought the belt, called the cops claiming the purchase was a fraud, the suit says.

Plainclothes detectives hauled Christian off Fifth Avenue and into the local precinct.

There Christian produced his identification, his debit card from Chase as well as the receipt with his name on it for the purchase he made, the suit states.

“In spite of producing such documentation Christian was told that his identification was false and that he could not afford to make such an expensive purchase.”

Cops eventually called Chase, which verified that the debit card belonged to Christian, and let him go.

Police sources said that Christian has no record of arrests.

Christian told media sources he returned the belt out of the disgust over his treatment by the world-famous clothing store.

“I didn’t want to have anything to do with it,” he said, adding that he was at first inspired to buy the accessory by Harlem rapper Juelz Santana who wears the Italian designer’s duds.

Christian said he’ll never shop at Barney’s again.

He’s suing both Barneys and the NYPD for unspecified damages.

Barneys did not immediately comment.

A spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department said she would review the claims once she received the suit.