Opinion ID: 200021
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Facts Alleged in the Amended Complaint.

Text: 3 On December 21, 1998, the appellant entered a Radio Shack store in Brunswick, Maine, seeking to purchase a police scanner. For the duration of his stay, he was the only African-American on the premises. Three employees — all of whom were white — monitored his movements, and at least one of them accompanied him throughout his visit. Upon inquiry, a clerk told the appellant that the scanner he wished to buy was not in stock. The appellant did find a book, a telephone, and some batteries that were to his liking. At the checkout counter, he bought those items and asked whether the scanner might be available at another branch. After calling around, the store manager, Steven Richard, responded in the negative. At that juncture, Richard requested the appellant's name and address. The appellant obliged. 4 Soon after the appellant left, Richard discovered that a laptop computer worth approximately $2,000 was missing. Richard reported the purloined computer to the Brunswick police, told them that he suspected the appellant of the theft, and supplied the officers with the appellant's address. The appellant lived in the nearby town of Bath, and the Brunswick police contacted their counterparts in that community. A Bath police officer thereafter went to the appellant's home to investigate the reported theft. The appellant allowed the officer to search his dwelling and his car, but the officer found no trace of the stolen computer. 5 After the officer left, the appellant telephoned Radio Shack to complain about what he believed to be unjust and racially discriminatory treatment. Richard told him that all the customers who were in the store during the same time frame had been reported as suspects in the theft. This statement was patently false; Richard did not provide information about any other persons (including the three or four white customers who had purchased items at about the same time) to the authorities. Indeed, apart from transmitting the appellant's identity to the police, Radio Shack made no effort to locate the wayward computer. 6 The appellant heard nothing further from the police. Although he became dissatisfied with some of the products that he had purchased, he did not try to return them for fear that he would again be accused of shoplifting.