Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 31 March 2000 — Page 5
FRIDAY, MARCH 31,2000
THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER
"SUL
PIZZA
Continued from A1
jwhich she had placed on the counter, out the door and denied hc*i use of the business phone. Whc-n Tucker went out to get her ke t vv she met an unidentified man and used his cell phone to call police. After she explained what had happened to the operator, she was advised to remove herself from the situation and wait for the po-
lice.
As the two parties continued to exchange words, one of the employees allegedly said he would beat the women if they had been men. In response, Strode said that if she had a gun. she would shoot
him.
The heated debate then came to an abrupt end when two of the workers pulled out guns and placed them on the counter and allegedly 'stated they would shoot the two women. "Everything was so heated," said ■ Tucker who said she was “scared, angry, hurt and shocked." ' As the two waited outside, four • Marion County sheriffs deputies •arrived on the scene. The two women explained what had happened. and the officers proceeded ' to go inside. t After a discussion with the employees, the officers told the women
regrettable. My employees have no problem apologizing. It happened and Km not going to justify their actions, but if someone says they’re going to shoot you, you’re going to defend yourself. If apologies are in order, they need to come from both sides." Currently, Lenceski said no formal reprimands were given to the employees; however, he is looking into to possible racial sensitivity counseling. Over the four years in which the independently-owned franchise has been in operation, the business has employed three African Americans. The Recorder asked several customers to respond to their service from the facility. One African American man, who asked to remain anonymous, said that he is a regularcustomer and has never had any history of racially adverse treat-
ment.
“I have never heard of anything like that happening here; I come here all the time." he said. “I’ve never had any problems since I’ve
been coming here.”
Howeveranothercustomer.John Davis. 30, recalled the staff shouting racial slurs at him and seeing guns a frienthe workers with d when they returned an unsatisfactory or-
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' there was nothing they could do as der last December.
the employees’ actions were within the law since the men didn't actu- ' ally point (he guns at the women. ^ “We could have been killed and
our children would have been moth-
erless,” said Tucker, whose 3-year-old son was sitting in the carduring the incident. "Would it have been legal for them to shoot us,” asked Tucker, who also expressed surprise that the sheriff’s deputies couldn’t do anything. “Anything could have happened. If they were ignorant and angry enough to pull the guns out, they could have been ignorant and angry enough to shoot us.” But officers didn’t see it that way. There was no check done by officers to see if the guns were registered. There was no incident report filed and no documentation of the incident on discharge report's. which is routine procedure, according to a Marion County Sheriff Department operator, who refused to be identified. Marion County Sheriff Department officials weren’t available to comment of the lack filed reports. The women are currently seeking actions with the NAACP and Indiana Civil Rights Commission. They hope the Jack’s Pizza staff are fired or receive training in dealing with other races. Complaints •were filed this week and are currently being reviewed. Although Tucker failed to get ' identification from the officers or witness, their claims were some- ‘ what substantiated when pizza • employees said on a WTLC radio show last week that they had called the women “niggers" and pulled •out their guns. ' However, while Jack's repre- ' sentatives confirm the exchange and the use of racially derogatory I remarks made by both parties, their accounts of the incident differ
greatly.
According to area manager Joe 1 Lenceski, Tucker, a regular cus1 tomer, frequently complains about 1 her service, but continues to patronize the facility. He also said the exchange was instigated by both
“I think they are racist and diversitytraining wouldn’thelpthem any,” he said. He plans on filing a report with the NAACP and encourages others who may have had similar experiences to do the same.
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< women and that one, in fact, threw • the pizza at his employees, and was | fumbling through her purse, as if ; she was going to pull out a weapon. The racial obscenities, he continued, also began with the two customers. “Every time she orders, she says she is dissatisfied,” Lenceski said. “This is aconstant thing, but we’ve grown to live with it. If we we’re racists, we wouldn't have any business here. This is acolorblind business. both in the customers and employment.” Additionally, although Tucker j claims she had to use the cel I phone • of an unidentified man. Jacks' emj ployees on hand during the inci- | dent, said that she actually called [ 911 from the facility; in fact, they offered her the phone to do so. Added Lenceski. by this time, the employees were trying to get the two to leave. “There were a lot of things said, and a lot of things got out of hand." he said. "But how much do (the employees) have to endure? I apologize for what happened, it's
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