A 70-year-old Black woman alleges she was accused of having a gun, arrested, left inside a hot patrol car and jailed after she confronted a Florida credit union about money missing from her account.
Retired teacher Linda Stephens was a customer of the MidFlorida Credit Union for the past 50 years, when she deposited $600 in the ATM in Bartow, Florida, on April 13, 2021. Stephens needed the money to pay her mortgage, according to a lawsuit obtained by Atlanta Black Star. She received a receipt and returned home, but when noticed the funds weren’t reflected in her balance in the morning, Stephens went to back to the branch for assistance.
However, the woman and her attorneys allege she was met with “hostility and disdain” because of her race. The lawsuit filed on Feb. 3. accuses MidFlorida of “blatant discrimination” and “flagrant indifference.”
“They discriminated against, neglected, and caused emotional distress to Stephens when they called the police on her after she expressed concern about a deposit for her mortgage not appearing in her account due to an error on the bank’s end,” said attorney Benjamin Crump during a Feb. 3 press conference.
A credit union employee told the retiree that he did not see her deposit and said the ATM was being worked on due to mechanical issues by a technician. The teller told Stephens to return in several hours and fill out a dispute form to resolve the discrepancy with her deposit.
Stephens did as she was instructed and returned to the MidFlorida branch where she was told by another employee that the deposit had still not been posted. The employee accepted the dispute form and reassured her the funds would appear in her account within two to three hours. After waiting the rest of the day and the following morning, Stephens went back to the bank on April 14 after the funds did not show up in her account.
When she arrived, the tellers told Stephens they were unable to help her or…
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