Figure Who Ignited N.Y. Store Boycott Testifies

A woman whose complaints provoked a black-led boycott of two Korean vegetable markets testified Friday that one store’s employees falsely accused her of stealing and beat her.

Giselaine Felissaint testified in the trial of Pong Ok Jang, the market’s manager. She said she was assaulted Jan. 18, 1990, by three employees of the Family Red Apple Store after a dispute over a purchase.

Joseph T. Klempner, Pong’s lawyer, said Felissaint was lying to bolster her $6-million civil lawsuit against the market and its owner, Bong Jae Jang.

Felissaint, a Haitian immigrant, testified in French Creole, using an interpreter.

She said she had about $3 worth of fruits and vegetables in a shopping basket, but decided not to wait in line to pay. She said she left the basket near the cashier and started to leave, she said.

The cashier spoke to a Korean employee who demanded to examine a shopping bag she was carrying, Felissaint said.

“I heard the lady say she’s tired of these black people,” she said. “Then the man grabbed me as I was walking out.”

Felissaint said the man slapped her and another Korean store worker hit her.

“And then another person came and kicked me below my stomach. That’s why I fell down,” she said, responding to questions from prosecutor Michael B. Frett.

The misdemeanor assault charge against Pong carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. No one else has been charged.

Klempner said in his opening statement that Felissaint provoked an argument when she tried to steal from the store and lied to police and prosecutors.

“Mrs. Felissaint took an item and threw it in the face of the cashier,” Klempner said.

He said she lay down on the floor and feigned injury when she learned police were coming.

Black community activists launched a boycott of the store and another market owned by a Korean-American across the street, saying the incident was a symbol of racial tension in New York.