Protesters gathered outside a west Charlotte beauty supply store after the owner was seen in a video violently attacking an alleged shoplifter on Thursday.
Sung Ho Lim, owner of Missha Beauty Supply in Charlotte, N.C., told police he observed the unidentified woman stealing eyelashes.
Lim said he confronted the woman and attempted to detain her in the store until police arrived.
The protesters allege the woman was an innocent victim who was aggressively body slammed to the floor for no reason.
As usual the news media only reported half of the story.
Video obtained by WBTV shows the confrontation that occurred after a female customer slapped the store owner.
The video broadcast by the news station did not show the slap. The video begins with Lim kicking the woman’s legs and yelling, “You hit me,” before dragging her to the floor.
The woman can be heard telling Lim, “Check my bag. I’m telling you I don’t have anything.”
Lim then put the woman in a chokehold, as witnesses urged the woman to calm down.
Protesters called for residents to boycott the beauty supply store until Lim apologized to the woman.
“When he was choking her, he was almost choking her to death. She was gasping for breath, and he was continually choking her,” said Teresa Mosely, a witness who was in the store at the time.
“You cannot take police matters in your own hands. You can’t act like the police,” civil rights activist John C. Barnett said. “Whatever the case may be, we know he cannot be keeping someone in a choke hold, stealing or not.”
“I don’t know; it just happened. I went crazy,” Lim later told WBTV. “No matter what the reason, I feel very sorry to her and to them.”
Lim filed a police report alleging a “strong armed robbery” had taken place in his store.
“He took it upon himself to treat her in a way that no woman should be treated—in fact, no person should be treated,” said Corinne Mack of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg chapter NAACP. “That’s why I’m so disgusted and hurt.
The TV news station has not apologized for only airing half of the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piSgPHadS14
