ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – The allegations of racial profiling ensue as a Rochester Hills bank has denied a woman multiple times from cashing her settlement check.
The woman said the bank had no problem cashing the check for a customer with a different skin color.
The woman at the center of the lawsuit says she tried four times to cash the legitimate check until, eventually, it was confiscated.
Before suing the bank, her attorney decided to try and test whether racial discrimination was at play.
The incidents have occurred at the Comerica Bank branch at the corner of Adams Road and Walton Boulevard in Rochester Hills.
“Banking while Black” is something the woman says she heard of but never thought she’d experience.
“I never got racially profiled before, so I walked outside, and I was crying,” said Shanquese Jones. “So it was embarrassing.”
Cashing a $1,000 insurance settlement check was said to have been next to impossible for Jones and Bryan Craft Jr.
“Racial discrimination,” said Craft Jr. “This wouldn’t be the first time for me, but still, you wouldn’t want anybody to go through that.”
Jones said she tried multiple times and was denied the check being honored. She believes it was because of her skin tone.
“Ain’t nothing that you can more so do when you’re Black,” Jones said. “They already think that you don’t know nothing.”
Her lawyer, Brandon McNeal, says she did everything right, but the check was still confiscated the fourth time she made an attempt.
“They presented the check, signed the check as well as submitted a thumbprint signature,” said McNeal. “The only thing that they were told was that there was an issue with the check and that they needed to get it reissued, and Ms. Jones did exactly as directed. And to make a long story short, she did that on four different occasions.”
To test if the theory was correct, McNeal tried something of his own.
“We sent a white customer to the exact same Comerica Bank branch location, and they had a settlement check for $1,000,” McNeal said. “It was drafted up on a Comerica Bank account, and that white customer had none of the same issues.”
Because of those incidents, legal action is being taken.
“We’re comfortable putting it in a jury’s hands,” McNeal said. “Comerica Bank has effectively stolen their check and provided them no recourse but to file this lawsuit.”
Local 4 tried reaching out to Comerica Bank for comment, but because it is a legal matter now, they’re choosing not to comment.