A Black woman filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against a Kia dealership in Highland Park, Illinois on Oct. 13. Sade Crockett was arrested at the dealership after being falsely accused of using a fraudulent check to purchase a vehicle on March 10.
Crockett was at the McGrath Kia located at 250 Skokie Valley Road in Highland Park to purchase a vehicle with a cashier’s check gifted to her by her 82-year-old uncle, Enoch Graves.
According to her attorneys, Hampton & Hampton LLP, Crockett and her uncle first went to the Fifth-Third Bank in Chicago and obtained a cashier’s check from Graves’ account, which was legitimate and intended as a birthday gift to his niece.
The duo explained to the bank tellers that they intended to purchase a vehicle with the cashier’s check and they even called the dealership from the bank to ensure a cashier’s check would be proper payment for the intended purchase.
“The clerks expressed that the bank could accommodate them without issue, and that cashier’s checks were less susceptible to fraud than personal checks and would give the recipient additional assurances that the check would clear,” says the lawsuit, adding that the dealership approved the cashier’s check made out in the amount of $30,710.05 as “an acceptable form of payment.”
The dealership also advised Crockett that she would not need to bring her uncle with her to make the purchase, and she dropped him off at home before heading to the dealership.
However, upon arriving, the 36-year-old said she “noticed a sense of unwelcomeness” from the predominantly white staff.
Nonetheless, she test-drove a used Chevy Blazer LT and decided she would purchase the 2021 vehicle and gave the dealers her cashier’s check. She also explained that she’d called earlier with the bank, but when the dealership called Fifth-Third to verify the check, they failed to call the same branch and were told the check was likely fraudulent “without adequate investigation or due diligence” by the bank.
The dealership then called 911 and asked for the Highland Park Police Department without bothering to call the correct branch “where the check was drawn” and Crockett was arrested, despite her pleas to explain what happened, according to Lake & McHenry Scanner.com.
“McGrath Kia deviated from its own policy and practice to return checks to customers and decline the sale, when the validity of a check may be in question. McGrath Kia deviated from this policy and practice; based solely upon Crockett’s race, and instead called the police for Crockett to be arrested,” the lawsuit said.
After being told by the bank that Crockett was not a customer of the bank and that she could not verify the check because the computers were down, the officer replied that “people from those neighborhoods” were probably using Crockett as a “tool to purchase the vehicle with a fraudulent check.”
“Sade was wrongfully discriminated against based upon her race while trying to lawfully purchase a vehicle gifted to her by her family member,” her attorney, Halil Hampton, told McClatchy News Service.
Crockett was arrested and charged with felony forgery, causing her to be “brought to tears” and to have “a nervous breakdown,” the lawsuit said. She wasn’t vindicated until several months later, on July 18, when the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office finally determined that the check was not fraudulent, no crime had been committed and all of the charges were dropped.
“Sorry it took so long,” Crockett was told by the prosecutor, her complaint describes.
“This case represents a disturbing pattern of racial discrimination and what can happen when ‘Banking While Black.’
There is no data on how frequently the police are called on customers, who are making legitimate everyday transactions,” noted a press release from Hampton & Hampton LLP. “However, racial profiling in our community needs to stop. Our client has suffered extreme emotional distress from the incident, and has been unable to find gainful employment, due to media headlines with both her name and image, still visible on the internet today. Sade Crockett, needs justice and she deserves to be treated with both dignity and respect.”
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the wrongful arrest. WKM Automotive, Inc., McGrath Kia, Fifth Third Bank, the City of Highland Park and the two police officers who arrested Crockett are named in the lawsuit.
