Fail! Shocking moment a white man grabs an innocent black teenager and accuses him of stealing a wallet during a psychology class social experiment at a mall to study people's reactions to race

Channing Cowan, 17, was conducting an experiment about racism for his high school psychology class when he was accused of stealing a wom...

Channing Cowan, 17, was conducting an experiment about racism for his high school psychology class when he was accused of stealing a woman's wallet by two white men who grabbed him at a Colorado mall

A simple high school psychology experiment at a Colorado mall appears to have exposed an unexpected case of racism.

Channing Cowan, 17, and three of his classmates from a psychology class at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colorado, were at the Denver's Cherry Creek Mall, conducting a social experiment to see whether strangers responded differently to requests based on a person's skin color when the incident occurred. 

The class project involved the students stopping people and asking if they could borrow their cell phones.

Channing, who appears to be a person of color, told KDVR that he received 'ten straight noes' while asking to borrow a phone. 

However, when he stopped one adult white man, the man turned around and accused him of stealing a woman's wallet. 

The incident was caught on camera from a discreet distance.    

In the video, the man can be seen grabbing Channing's arm and shoulder and putting his hands on his back. A second adult white man can be seen pulling Channing's sweatshirt. 

Channing can be seen pulling out his own brown wallet and showing it to the man, as a white teen with a red cast rushes down the stairs and appears to try to diffuse the situation. Nobody else in the vicinity tries to help Channing.  

The man 'actually grabbed me and threatened to whoop my you know what if I didn't give his wallet back,' Channing told the news station.  

It was later revealed that the woman, who is not seen in the video clip, left her wallet inside the store. She apparently apologized to Channing, but the two men who put their hands on him didn't apologize, merely walked away. 

Channing's parents, Alice and Michael Cowan, believe that their son was accused of stealing the woman's wallet purely based on his skin color. 

'My heart didn't break because I know it happens all the time, but it was so scary for me because I wasn't there,' Alice Cowan said. 'I know he's a senior, but at the same time he's my baby.'

Michael Cowan said that he he was likewise disturbed. 'This is stuff I've dealt with a lot,' he said.

Michael then went on to question what would have happened 'if the roles were reversed and I was putting my hands on your child?' he said. 'How would you feel?' 

Channing's parents would like to identify the man who accused their son of theft and manhandled him, so that they can ask him why he did what he did.  

'Lately it just seems like things have gone so far back,' Alice said, noting that now 'People just feel like they can say and do whatever they want to do.'