Protesters demand answers at T-Mobile store where black men were held at gunpoint by police

The man seen on video being held at gunpoint by Fresno police last month after workers at a T-Mobile store reported he might be a robber returned Friday to join a small protest demanding answers and an apology.

It was Dorian Johnson’s first time back inside the store since he and his uncle were detained. The Facebook video that made national headlines in June shows Johnson, 26, as he crawls across the cement outside the T-Mobile store on his stomach, obeying officers’ orders. At least one of the officers is pointing a gun at Johnson.

The video, shot by Johnson’s uncle, Vincent Lemar, cuts out after police order Lemar to come out of the store with his hands up, but the audio is still on. Johnson’s girlfriend can be heard screaming from the parking lot.

Ultimately, both men were cuffed, but no arrests were made. Lemar later commended the officers for their conduct, saying they were merely responding to what was reported as a robbery in progress on June 25.

Johnson held his daughter Friday as he, organizer Rev. Floyd Harris and about a dozen others protested outside the store at 5110 N. Blackstone Avenue. They say T-Mobile store workers racially profiled Johnson and his uncle, who are both black. They acknowledge that one of the store workers present June 25 is a man of color.

The group entered the store at about 5:45 p.m. Friday and Harris confronted the district manager, who refused to comment. He declined to comment to The Bee, as well.

Fresno police said they were called to the store Friday when the protesters entered, but the group left when officers arrived.

Harris handed out a list of demands, calling on T-Mobile to conduct an investigation to see who called the police, hold sensitivity training and create policies that will prevent false robbery calls. The list also had a demand for compensation for Johnson and his uncle.

Harris said Johnson has the right to wear his hair in dreadlocks while in a T-Mobile store and not have the police called. “They are not sensitive to black culture, how they look, how they wear their hair,” Harris said. “If he was white, would this have happened on this side of town?”

Johnson said he left the store Friday feeling disappointed. “I came here today and you think somebody would own up to the fact that they were wrong and at least apologize, because when the situation happened, I didn’t get an apology,” he said. “’No, ‘Sorry, Mr. Johnson, this was a misunderstanding.’ Nothing.”

Johnson’s son, daughter, girlfriend, friends and family were with him Friday, but he said his uncle, Lemar, couldn’t make it.

“All I do is work and take care of my family,” Johnson said. “What disappoints me is that my life could have been taken away ... Nobody should have to go through what I went through.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2018 at 8:52 PM.