A woman says an employee of a Massachusetts farm racially profiled her sister after the family went apple picking this month, then continued to be aggressive to the point of assaulting her, sparking a scuffle.
Nicole Pepin told NBC10 Boston and Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra she's pressed charges over the Oct. 5 incident at Connors Farm in Danvers, in which she acknowledges hitting the employee in self-defense, after he grabbed her phone, yanked her hand and pushed her, all after the employee had asked to inspect her sister's stroller for apples that might have been stolen.
"My son now is saying that he doesn't want to go back to go apple picking because … he's scared that the old man is going to take my phone and fight with mommy," Pepin said.
After someone called 911, the owner of the facility made an apparently racist comment about many of the patrons present that day, according to a police report about the incident.
"He made comments to the effect of 'Look at these people, look at the crowd', 'We have plenty of problems here', and 'You could lock up half the crowd'. It was very clear that [he] was referring to the many racial minorities in the crowd and was insinuating that they were criminals," the officer wrote in the report, noting that he cut off the conversation.
No one needed to be hospitalized in the incident.
The farm released a statement Tuesday saying it was taking the allegations seriously and investigating, and that it welcomes all people to the facility.
The police report, which didn't identify the people involved, noted that the person who called police said they'd seen a male employee getting up in a woman's face, slap her arm, snatch her phone and throw it away, leading to another person hitting someone else — the names are redacted.
"The two were then 'chest to chest' and arguing and pushing into one another before the male employee arrived and separated the two," the report said.
The employee wouldn't come outside to be interviewed, as the investigating officers requested, and when they eventually went inside to speak with him, said he was hit in the face with the woman's phone, "which he said he then grabbed and threw away to 'district'" her.
The officer wrote in the report that he advised the employee "that he should reconsider following customers out to the parking lot and getting in their faces," but explained how he could file an assault and battery charge, as the officer had explained to the woman earlier.
The report concluded by noting that the employee "clearly provoked the incident" by following the woman "out to her vehicle and getting extremely close to her, sticking his phone in her face, and ultimately striking her arm and throwing her phone across the lot."
Pepin told NBC10 Boston and Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra that the incident began when the employee asked to search her sister's stroller, singling them out despite other people — who aren't the same race as Pepin and her sister — with strollers in the area. The employee then followed them aggressively, attempting to stop the stroller himself.
She also said that she'd initially hesitated to speak out about the incident, but felt validated by the response she received when she posted the police report to Facebook.
Read the farm's full statement here:
Connors Farm has been operating in 1904 and for many years it has served as a location for family-fun farming activities and traditions. Over the years, Connors Farm has welcomed thousands of visitors and is proud that virtually all have left as satisfied customers with positive interactions with our diverse and well-trained staff. Connors Farm is aware of a single incident concerning allegations with respect to negative interaction at our farm between a patron and our security personnel. Please be advised that Connors Farm takes these allegations very seriously and is actively investigating the matter and cannot make any specific comments at this time. Connors Farm welcomes all persons regardless of race, national origin, gender identity, disability, religion and looks forward to continuing to serve the community.
A similar allegation was made about Connors Farm employees in 2021, when a clergywoman serving on the Cambridge School Committee told NBC10 Boston that workers accused her of stealing apples after having a pleasant time at the orchard with her husband and toddler.
"It was really a tough moment for our family," Rev. Manikka Bowman told NBC10 Boston at the time.
Afterward, the both the Town of Danvers and the farm issued apologies.
"We have extended our personal apology to the family," the farm said in a statement at the time. "We do our best to train our employees to handle all customer issues with courtesy and respect at all times. We are taking further steps to ensure that staff will undergo diversity, equity and inclusion training. Please know that everybody is welcome on our farm."
