‘You don’t touch people’: Customer accuses Kirkland store owner of discrimination, assault
Jan 6, 2024, 12:33 PM | Updated: 1:48 pm
(Photo from KIRO 7)
(Photo from KIRO 7)
A woman told KIRO 7 News that a Kirkland store owner had allegedly discriminated against and assaulted her while she was shopping inside his store.
Dramatic cell phone video captured the interaction.
Quiana Ross told KIRO 7 News that she was shopping inside MC Smoke in Kirkland on Thursday.
In an email she had sent to us, she wrote The owner unprovoked said, “A black consumer is a bad consumer.”
And as I walked out the door, he saw I was recording so he grabbed my purse, scratched my face, and arm, and took my card as my items flew across the floor, she continued to write.
She added that she was not rude or disrespectful” and didn’t do anything.
The store surveillance video captured the moments before the physical altercation.
Ross was seen inside the cigar room, inside the store, looking at different cigars. She was seen grabbing and looking at at least five different cigars before the store owner entered the room and talked with Ross.
The video later shows Ross turning her phone camera on.
Ross said in the video, “I have my degree and I’m a nurse anesthetist. And I’m not a bad consumer.”
“I have over 500,000 followers and trust me, you will not hear the last of this,” she added.
The owner responded, “Are you recording this right now,” right before both were involved in a physical struggle.
“You don’t touch people,” Ross said in the video. “You do not.”
Surveillance video inside the store captured the physical altercation near the store’s front entrance.
Ross had agreed to talk with KIRO 7 News, but she later changed her mind.
KIRO 7 News tried to talk with Ross in person, but we were told she was not home.
We also reached out to the Kirkland Police Department to get more details. A spokesperson for the department said officers are investigating the situation. He said the incident happened in the afternoon on Thursday but did not provide any further details.
KIRO 7 News spoke with Yeong Pan, store owner of MC Smoke, on Friday.
Pan said Ross didn’t like his service so she threatened to leave a bad review on his business.
“I told her if you don’t like the service, you don’t have to buy in my store, you can buy in another store. Now she turned on her phone,” he said.
Pan said he didn’t know Ross was recording for most of the incident.
KIRO 7 News asked Pan about Ross’s accusations.
Pan said there was a big misunderstanding due to a language barrier.
“In my country, every news use that word. Black consumer means bad customer, but it’s not a black and white problem,” he said.
The store owner then grabbed his phone and used a translation app to further explain.
The translation app read out loud, “It is a new word that combines black, which means malicious, and consumer, which means consumer. It refers to a consumer who takes issues with a defect of a purchased product, pretends to have suffered damage, and files a malicious complaint or demands excessive compensation for damages from a company.”
KIRO 7 News asked if Pan had a message for Ross.
“If she got that feeling, I’m sorry about that,” he said.
