Confrontation between woman, North Carolina store manager goes viral

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina -- A video that appears to show an intense struggle between a woman and a manager of a west Charlotte, North Carolina beauty store has gone viral on social media and has sparked boycotts.

The more than two-minute cellphone video was shot by another customer at Missha Beauty. In it, a woman is being accused of shoplifting and a man identified as the store's manager isn't letting her leave the store.

Click here to see the video on WSOC

The two can be seen shoving one another, and then the man kicks the woman, claiming she hit him.

Seconds later the manager has the woman on the ground and in a chokehold.

"You were stealing," he yells in the video.

"No I was not. You checked my purse," the woman said.

The manager's wife and other customers in the store can be heard in the video telling the man to "loosen up" and "let her go a little bit."

The manager eventually frees her from the chokehold.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said the woman managed to get away in a silver Dodge sedan before police arrived at the store.

Investigators have not yet confirmed if they've viewed the Facebook video, but said they have yet to identify or find the woman.

As for the manager, investigators confirmed he has not been charged with any crime.

But many customers are concerned by the manager's reaction after viewing the video.

"Oh my God, look at how he's treating her," Kim Johnson said.

Johnson said she often shops at the store and is familiar with the manager.

"He was a very nice guy so for me to hear this about him, I'm really shocked," Johnson said.

When WSOC went to the store to talk with the manager another worker said both the manager and his wife, also captured pushing the woman in the video, have been fired.

WSOC went to the couple's house and spoke briefly with the manager's wife. She said the video doesn't capture the whole incident. She also reiterated the woman was stealing and said surveillance video from the store's cameras had been given to police.

The cellphone video was shot and posted by Nancy Wilson. Wilson declined an interview but said she didn't know the woman.

Meanwhile, there are now calls for a boycott of the store.

On Wednesday, demonstrators gathered outside the Missha Beauty Supply in Chicago's Bronzeville area urging customers to stay away.

The Chicago-based owner of the store also owns the Charlotte store where the incident happened., which has drawn the attention of the NAACP.

Click here to read more about the boycott from ABC11's sister-station WLS.