A woman says a Massachusetts farm employee racially profiled her sister after the family went apple picking this month, then continued to be aggressive enough to assault her, leading to a scuffle. It is said that it has developed into
Nicole Pepin told NBC10 Boston and Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra that she filed the charges in an incident that occurred on Oct. 5 at Connors Farm in Danvers. In the incident, the employee admitted to hitting the employee in self-defense after the employee grabbed her cellphone, pulled her hand, and pushed her. An employee asked her to check her sister’s stroller to see if any apples had been stolen.
“My son now says he doesn’t want to go back to picking apples… because he’s afraid that his grandfather will take away my phone and fight with his mother,” Pepin said.
After someone called 911, the owner of the establishment made overtly racist comments to numerous patrons who were there that day, according to a police report on the incident.
“He made comments to the effect of, “Look at these people, look at the crowd,” “There’s a lot of trouble here,” and “Maybe we could lock up half the crowd.” It was very obvious. [he] “He made references to a number of racial minorities in the crowd and implied that they were criminals,” the officer wrote in the report, noting that he ended the conversation.
No one required hospitalization in this incident.
The farm issued a statement Tuesday saying it takes the allegations seriously and is investigating them and welcomes all people to the facility.
The police report does not identify those involved, but the person who called police said a male employee got up in the woman’s face, slapped her in the arm, snatched her cellphone and threw it away, leading to another incident. He said he had witnessed it. People hitting others – names redacted.
“The two then argued and pushed each other ‘chest to chest’ until a male employee arrived and separated them,” the report states.
The employee refused to come out for questioning as requested by law enforcement authorities, and when investigators eventually went inside to talk to him, he showed his face on the woman’s cell phone. He said he was beaten, adding: “Then he grabbed my cell phone and threw it away.” “District” her.
The police officer said in the report that he advised the employee to “reconsider chasing a customer into the parking lot and punching him in the face,” but added that, as the officer explained to the woman, he was not charged with assault and battery. The report also explains how the case can be filed. Previously.
The report states that the employee “obviously followed the woman out to his car, got very close to her, shoved his cell phone in her face, and eventually punched her in the arm and threw her cell phone across the property.” It was concluded that the incident had been provoked by the police. ”
Pepin told NBC10 Boston and Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra that an employee grabbed her sister’s stroller even though other people who were not of the same race as Pepin and her sister were nearby with strollers. He said the incident started when he asked to be searched. The employee then aggressively followed them and attempted to stop the stroller himself.
She also said she was initially hesitant to talk about the incident, but felt vindicated by the response she received when she posted the police report on Facebook.
Read the farm’s full statement here.
Connors Farm has been in operation since 1904 and has served as a place for family-friendly farming activities and traditions for many years. Over the years, Connors Farm has welcomed thousands of visitors and is proud to say that nearly every visitor leaves as a satisfied customer due to positive interactions with our diverse and well-trained staff. I think so. Connors Farm is aware of an incident involving allegations of negative interactions between patrons and security personnel at our farm. Please note that Connors Farm takes these allegations very seriously and is actively investigating the matter and is unable to comment specifically at this time. Connors Farm welcomes all people, regardless of race, national origin, gender identity, disability, or religion, and we look forward to continuing to serve our community.
Cambridge School Committee members are speaking out about an incident in which they say a family was profiled and accused of theft while they were apple picking on Labor Day.
Similar allegations were made in 2021 about a Connors Farm employee, a female clergyman who serves on the Cambridge School Committee told NBC10 Boston that she had a great time at the orchard with her husband and toddler. Employees later accused him of stealing apples.
“This was a really difficult moment for our family,” Pastor Manicka Bowman told Boston NBC10 at the time.
Both the town of Danvers and the farm have since issued apologies.
“We have personally apologized to the family,” the farm said in a statement at the time. “We do our best to train our employees to always address customer issues with courtesy and respect. We ensure that our staff receives diversity, equity, and inclusion training. Please know that everyone is welcome on our farm.”
