Big Banks, Little People Pt. 2

Following on from Monday’s post (if you missed it click here) …

So what’s the problem? Police make mistakes, arrest the wrong person, even charges them. Justice will win out we are taught and Mr. Shinnick walked free … eventually. The problem is that the story wouldn’t have ended there. When most employers hire someone they check our records. Mr. Shinnick had to clear his name and $14,000 and the time he put into it, is an injustice in itself.

The Victim

“The court wants to protect people when reporting criminal activity,” said Paul Glusman, a Berkeley attorney who has written about the Hagberg case. “But this can be abused. At this point, there’s nothing that will protect ordinary citizens from a false police report.” (source)

Shinnick works as a salesman in a San Francisco clothing store. He understands the client:customer relationship and this served only to infuriate him all the more. He felt that Bank of American should not have called the police until they were sure that a crime was in fact happening and that the person in their store was the criminal and not another victim.

“I’ve been in retail for 18 years,” he said. “I know about customer service and dealing with fraud. The way to handle something like this is to take the person into a back room and work things out before you call the police.” (source)

Shinnick felt violated not only by his wrongful arrest, but the way that Bank of America treated him and their refusal to help with the costs he incurred.

Enter a Superhero: Clark Howard doesn’t walk around with a cape (actually he might for all I know), but he is as tenacious as any Batman or Wonder Woman. Clark Howard is a  Consumer Advocate. He has a syndicated radio and TV show and is known throughout the country. According to his website, Howard “advises consumers how to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off.”

Cleark Howard - The Hero

Howard took up Shinnick’s cause and highlighted it on his website. He spoke with bank officials, and actually offered to pay $7,000 of the fees if the bank would pay the other $7,000. They refused the offer.

Clark then requested that his listeners withdraw money from their accounts. Many indeed closed the accounts  which cost Bank of America between $20 million and $50 million (I have two separate sources) from their Bank of America accounts.

Bank of America had a change of heart.

The Villian?

I actually have a small amount of sympathy for B of A. They could easily have been the victims and need to work to crush fraud which eventually costs all of us – banks and customers. But could they not have found a way to help this victim?

What I really want to point out is how impressed I am with Clark Howard. Beyond anything, he proved that if people stand together over injustices, the little person can receive justice.

Thank you, Clark. You have taught us all a powerful lesson.

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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist (now available on Kindle) and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/and on Twitter (#alonshalevsf).

Big Banks Little People Pt. 1

Following on from Roger Ingalls’ impressive story about a man who robbed a bank for $1 and went to jail to receive medical care, I want to share another baffling story of the desperate little man.

The real scene of the crime?

At the end of 2005, Matthew Shinnick sold two mountain bikes on Craigslist. He received a check and walked into deposit it at his local Bank of America. He walked out in handcuffs and spent twelve hours in jail. Ironically, Shinnick became suspicious because the buyer sent him a generous amount above the asking price to cover shipping and time spent sending the bikes off. So before cashing it, he told the teller and asked her to verify if there were enough funds to cover the check. He was told that there were and this was a business account.

A few minutes later, four of SFPD’s finest entered the bank and arrested him. The company had put this account on fraud alert. The policemen moved quickly to neutralize the suspect out of concern for the others in the bank. His legs were kicked apart, his hands cuffed and he was never read his rights. When he asked what was happening a policeman told him not to speak.

Shinnick was then held in the bank for 45 minutes while the policemen interviewed the staff in plain view of his neighbors. Five hours later he was photographed, strip searched, fingerprinted and dressed in an orange jumpsuit.

The Victim

 

 

“I was so humiliated, it was beyond belief,” he recalled. “It was an absolute, living nightmare. I felt like I was going to be one of those people who gets caught in the system and has no way of getting out.” (source)

He was then put in a small holding cell with drug dealers and users. There was one bed and one toilet. He stayed in here for several hours until his father came with $4,500 to bail him out.

Twenty-four hours later the district attorney’s office dropped the case, but it took Shinnick almost six months and $14,000 to receive a ruling by the SF Superior Court that he was innocent by “”findings of fact” — a verdict needed to erase all record of the case.

Customer service?

Shinnick asked Bank of America to help affray the legal costs and, while offering sympathy, they refused. The bank also warned that litigation would prove costly and ineffective. A recent Supreme Court decision (Hagberg vs. California Federal Bank, 2004) involved a woman who presented an unusually large check for deposit from her stockbroker. The rest, handcuffs included, is remarkably similar. The judge found for the bank. The only difference, in fact, was that this check was genuine!!!

Could it get any more bizarre. Find out tomorrow… (and if you can’t take the suspense the answer is YES!!!).

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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist (now available on Kindle) and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/and on Twitter (#alonshalevsf).