Target security guard punches customer demanding ‘reparations’

A Target security guard punched a customer during a confrontation that was sparked when she asked for “reparations” while at a checkout line with more than $1,000 in groceries, according to a police report.

The ugly incident happened in October at the megastore in Blue Ash, Ohio and began when Karen Ivery asked a cashier for their manager regarding the bill and reparations, according to the police report reviewed by The Post.

The cashier alleged to authorities Ivery brought up reparations several times during their brief encounter before the manager arrived, the report states.

When speaking with the manager, the customer first asked for reparations and grew angry as she walked “aggressively” toward the manager, according to the report.

“Ivery kept berating her about reparations and her privileged life,” the report alleges as the patron kept walking toward the manager.

That’s when Zach Cotter, a loss prevention officer, intervened and asked Ivery to calm down and leave the store, the report states. But she then allegedly began screaming at Cotter and followed him to his office.

When he tried to shut the door, Ivery allegedly forced her way in and Cotter threw a punch, according to the report.

Surveillance footage of the incident reported on by the Daily Mail shows the staffer’s punch cause the woman to hit the floor.

After reviewing footage of the incident, authorities wrote they determined Ivery was the “aggressor” and she was placed under arrest.

“Ivery was confrontational with officers on the scene and didn’t want to explain her actions,” the report states.

Reparations have been a topic for heated debate in recent years that involves a government entity or other institution providing money or funding to people of color who are either descendants of slaves or marginalized in another way.

In a bodycam video of the purported incident put YouTube, Ivery told an officer she wanted the cashier to contact the manager “so we could have a larger conversation about how money works, and how the provision works, and how it’s been working in our community in a very wrong way.”

“This is my Rosa Parks moment,” she added.

Ivery was sentenced to a day in jail and charged $110 for disorderly conduct, the Daily Mail reported.

A Target spokesperson declined to comment about the incident and suggested contacting police for more information when contacted by The Post.