By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter
Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 Reporter: Curtis McCarty says he?s run Orbit Automotive Paint and Body Shop in northeast Dallas for 38 years. The 67-year-old businessman also says he has an outstanding reputation in the community. He?s finance chair for his church, Pilgrim Rest Baptist, near downtown Dallas, where he told his tale to reporters. A month ago, McCarty says, he sold a used car from his lot and took the buyer?s $12,000 check to the Bank One branch at LBJ and Abrams. Bank One held the account. He wanted a cashier?s check, a routine procedure which prevents the buyer from canceling the personal check and then stealing the car. McCarty says the bank initially had some concern about the amount.
Curtis McCarty, Owner, Orbit Automotive Paint and Body Shop and lawsuit plaintiff: Next thing I know, the manager of the bank came out and told the policeman on duty to arrest me. He came over and said, ?You?re under arrest.? I said to him, ?For what?? He said, ?Your check is a fraudulent check.? I said, ?I had nothing to do with it; I didn?t write it.? He said, ?It is; you?re under arrest.?
Zeeble: McCarty asked the manager, Maria Hazan-Cohen, to call his office, to prove the transaction was legitimate
McCarty: They said, ?No, you?re not going to call.? He said later, ?Well, you can make calls once they take you to Lew Sterrett.? I said, ?If you take me to Lew Sterrett, that?ll be the biggest mistake you ever made in your life.?
Zeeble: McCarty never went to the Dallas jail. He said after half an hour shackled in a small bank closet, the off-duty officer returned; said, ?You don?t look like a criminal to me;? and told McCarty to leave. McCarty?s attorney, David Bell, says the day after the occurrence last month, he and McCarty went back to the lobby for a public apology.
David Bell, McCarty?s attorney: Apologize and explain, and this thing ends here. That offer was refused. That?s as far as we got and were asked to leave the bank.
Zeeble: So the attorney and his client filed a suit February 27th alleging false imprisonment and claiming physical and emotional injury. Bank One?s Mary Jane Rogers, Vice President and Media Relations Manager, says while it is bank policy to withhold comment during litigation...
Mary Jane Rogers, Vice President and Media Relations Manager, Bank One (reading from the bank?s statement): We can categorically and unequivocally say that race played absolutely no part in the events. We would have followed the exact procedures had anyone else been involved in the same circumstance.
Zeeble: Fort Worth criminal attorney Steve Gordon, who deals with racial profiling issues, called the scenario horrible, upsetting, and apparently racially motivated. Steve Gordon, Fort Worth criminal attorney: Although we think we?ve matured, and the civil rights movement is a thing of the past, and we think we?ve grown up, the truth is we haven?t. The truth is, people will resort to old tired thoughts. They arise under stress.
Zeeble: Gordon added that even if McCarty had been a criminal trying to pass a bad check, holding him could?ve endangered others in the bank. McCarty says he understands business caution, but not this. After the incident, he saw his doctor about shattered nerves and high blood pressure.
McCarty: He?s a white doctor, my doctor. He said, ?Curtis, you think they did this ?cause it?s a racial situation?? I said, ?Doctor, would they have done this to you?? He said, ?I doubt it.? I said, ?You answered your own question.?
Zeeble: McCarty?s supporters, including some area preachers, say they?ll move their personal and church business out of Bank One if nothing changes. McCarty still wants an apology and some assurance this will not happen to other African Americans.
McCarty: I want to send the bank a message. If they?ll do it to me, they?ll do it to anyone with the pigmentation of my skin.
Zeeble: For KERA 90.1, I?m Bill Zeeble