A mother is suing Target for causing her 22-year-old son to commit suicide. Read more on the story after the jump!
Her son, Graham Gentles, was a Target cashier in California, who jumped to his death after managers allegedly subjected him to a ‘walk of shame.’ He allegedly committed suicide after he was humiliated by managers at the Target where he worked because they paraded him through the store in handcuffs.
Virginia Gentles says her son Graham Gentles jumped from the roof of a hotel just three days after Target fired him from his job. Gentles spoke with NBC Los Angeles and said, “I don’t want any other mother to have to go through what I’ve gone through…this is my only child.” She is now suing Target and two managers at the Pasadena store for intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful death, false imprisonment, and negligence. The lawsuit says that Gentles arrived early for work and he was met at the entrance by police and Target security. The two Target managers told the police officers to grab him and they emptied his pockets, took his hat, and handcuffed him. They then walked him through the store to a room where he was being questioned. The suit also says that he was “shocked, confused and mortified at being handcuffed and walked through the Target store in front of coworkers and store customers” and he “had no idea why he was being arrested.” He was then escorted to a police car and taken to the police department, but he was released and never charged with a crime.
Gentles, had Asperger’s Syndrome, and the suit states he “experienced severe emotional distress” following the incident at Target. Virginia Gentles said, “The only thing he said to me at that moment was, “Mom, this is the worst day of my life.” Gentles was allegedly subjected to the walk of shame because of an argument with another Target coworker at a bar outside of work hours. The suit claims that Target subjected Gentles to a disciplinary measure that they allegedly call the “walk of shame” which is meant to cause “embarrassment and emotional distress to any Target employee who is suspected of stealing from Target Corporation,” says the lawsuit. Target denies having the policy.
