Customers held at gunpoint at Frisco bank file racial profiling suit
A Frisco bank customer, who was held at gunpoint last fall after a Wells Fargo employee thought he might rob the bank, filed a lawsuit this morning in Dallas, alleging racial profiling.
Derrill Ewans filed the suit against Wells Fargo, joined by three others who were detained at the bank with him — Camille Lewis, Nithya Saravanan and Saravanan Rathinasabapathy.
The lawsuit says the plaintiffs seek to “obtain justice for the humiliation and degradation they experienced due to the racist stereotyping of Wells Fargo and its employees.”
Helen Bow, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman, issued a statement saying the company stands by its employees’ actions and that “we will vigorously defend ourselves.”
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Royce West, a Democratic state senator from Dallas, said his clients — Derrill Ewans, Camille Lewis, Nithya Saravanan and Saravanan Rathinasabapathy — went to the bank Sept. 8 to close on a vehicle loan. While they were there, a bank employees called police to report suspicious behavior.
Mr. West said his clients were detained at gunpoint until officers determined there was no robbery attempt.
Full Story Here:
Customers held at gunpoint at Frisco bank file racial profiling suit
As the story says, this area where I live, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas, has one of the highest bank robbery rates in the nation, and folks tend to get a bit nervous when things look out of place, and presumed suspicious behavior is something that folks here are well attuned to.
Is it racial profiling? Sure it is, but racial profiling is a serious tool in security and law enforcement work, and when 80% or so of the crime in a particular area can be attributed to a specific race, or group, a security officer or police officer is forced to use the tools available to him.
As of January 2006, approximately 61 percent of all state correctional institutional offenders were African American, 20 percent were Caucasians, 18 percent were Hispanic and one percent represented other racial/ethnic backgrounds. (In these tabulations, a Hispanic is an individual of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South American or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of skin color.) What is the racial/ethnic breakdown of the Department of Corrections’ inmate population?
I am not being a racist in my opinion, not intentionally, it’s just the way the facts fall in place. The above figures are from 2006 and reflects a fairly accurate overall look at why many, not just law enforcement officers, do engage in racial profiling to some degree.
The majority of crimes in America are committed by those that are other than Caucasian offenders, our prisons are populated by a large majority not recognized as Caucasian, those are the facts. It tends to make folks look a bit more suspiciously at a member of a particular group if there is an act considered to be suspicious taking place.
Now you’re saying, “Well, there ya go Fred, just what is suspicious activity?”
There are many definitions and descriptions regarding suspicious activity, and one of the best resources I can offer is this: Suspicious Activity : Homeland Security National Terror Alert and I remind the reader, before you start making accusations of racism, remember 9-11-01 and ask yourself this question, knowing what you know right now, would I profile if I believed it could lessen, or perhaps negate the events of 9-11?
I don’t know about you, but as for myself, the answer is a resounding YES! And if someone doesn’t like it, they can sue me.
Since that fateful day in September, many things have changed. Our loss of innocence was one of the fatalities. Our heightened sense of awareness came to be, and with that awareness, suspicion.
I would have never thought that self preservation would ever be considered racist. Dumb as a box of rocks, aren’t I. 😕
Kate, that’s a *trick* question?? Right?? 😕
Heh! Hush!
Kate, Wicked Step Mother and I were both rolling when I sent that one, sorry, ya know we love ya!! 😀
sigh… Sometimes, I just make it too easy, don’t I!
I dunno for a fact, but They were probably dressed like thugs, looked nervous as cats in a room full of rocking chairs, and holding their hands in pockets or under shirt. then wonder why the bank tellers got suspicious. bet you a quarter it had more to do with their dress and actions than their race. perhaps if these folk and others like them don’t want to be treated like thugs they should not dress like one.
Here’s some profiling.
http://humor.beecy.net/songs/frank-sinatra/
Hurrah for the bank. They’re actually standing up for their employees. Suspicious behavior, these days, must be considered…even if it’s not really suspicious. Some in this country will just be inconvenienced, sometimes humiliated…it’s sad but it’s better that than sorry. Surely these men know somewhere, someone who looks and acts a bit like them, is actually trying to do harm to America (and yes, it appears from their names that they are not Arab or Persian). Nevertheless, …
Maggie
Maggie’s Notebook
When you got to Royce West, it all fell into place.
No need to campaign or place ads if you can be seen as the great arbiter for racial profiling.
I read this last night, started to post and got so mad I had to log off my computer… Will try this one again.
I’m sick and tired of hearing the word “racism”. If you don’t want to be profiled, don’t dress or behave in a suspicious manner. ‘Nuff said. I could rant more, but I have posted enough of this nonsense on my own blog and it’s giving me a headache….
Besides, you don’t see me running to sue someone because they made yet another joke about white rednecks from Arkansas…..
Maybe it’s time we DID sue, every time we get called redneck, cracker, whatever, mental stress being what it is, maybe it’s time…
You can bet your bippy that if I call someone a *nigger* or a *gook* I am going to be taken to task…
And ya know, the hypocrisy is astounding, not long ago, when I called Malkin a hatchet faced gook, the FAUX Intellectual was all kinds of pissed off, called me a vile racist, but he had already been guilty of making fun of ME for being fat…
Intellectual breakdown maybe?? Or just old fashioned hypocrisy?? 😛
I lost a lot of weight, but he’s still an asshole…
And THAT isn’t a racial slur, just a statement of fact… 😀
“Maybe it’s time we DID sue, every time we get called redneck, cracker, whatever, mental stress being what it is, maybe it’s time…”
You cannot squeeze blood out of a turnip.
They sue because their racist lawyers take the cases with “no” upfront money and there is money to go after. We cannot sue because there is “no” money to be had.
It isn’t profiling when you act suspicious in a bank. Regardless of the color of the person’s skin. If you act suspicious the bank employees are going to keep an eye on you.
I act friendly with the tellers in my bank. I know them all on first name basis and have even exchanged Christmas cards with them. I also get great service from my bank. No I’m not even remotely close to a Rockefeller, but I always remember what Mama said:
“You get more flies with honey, than you do with vinegar.”
And Mama was always right.
Katie, it’s all in how you go about doing business…
I am pretty well known at my bank too, so much so the the branch manager and one of the tellers and I regularly discuss guns and shooting, at the bank, and they know I am a serious hand gunner, they also know I’m not a moonbat gang banger or a raghead terrorist…
Appearance matters… And professionals radiate professionalism! 😀