Video Posted Of Racially Charged Incident At Dallas Pizza Place
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A far North Dallas restaurant owner is under fire after video surfaced showing a racially-charged incident.
A woman posted a video of an incident she said happened at Carmine's Pizzeria on Campbell Road a little more than a week ago.
The person who posted the video, Tamika Sanders, says she was called a "darkie" by the owner Carlos Pinto and said on video to an employee, "You shouldn't work for him. You're a darkie, too and that's what he said, 'I'm a darkie.' A good one. See that's a good darkie.'"
The video shows Pinto on the phone saying he's having trouble with some customers who won't leave.
CBS11 talked to a restaurant manager and one of the customers involved.
According to both of them, the argument began after the two women walked in 15 minutes before closing and asked for two slices of pizza.
At that point, a restaurant employee told them it was out of individual slices, but offered other options.
The manager said one of the women became angry. She reportedly yelled, pushed tables and accused the restaurant of racism.
She and the restaurant owner said the heard the commotion and got involved, asking them women to leave because they were worried for the safety of other customers.
Tamika Sanders tells the story differently.
She said the employee they were initially dealing with was condescending and they were leaving when the owner, Carlos Pinto, appeared, cursing and cornering Sanders making her fear for her safety.
By the time police showed up, the women had left but an officer met them at home to take a statement.
No charges have been filed.
Since the video was posted to social media, several people have left one-star reviews for the restaurant on Yelp.
The women said they later found other Yelp reviews complaining of similar racism at the restaurant.
But the manager told CBS11, employees only wanted the women to leave and the restaurant wouldn't have survived more than 40 years in business if this was a normal day on the job.
The manager said she did hear the owner make one reference to the women being dark in response to a question from the 911 operator. The owner told CBS11 he was agitated by the women's behavior but believes he didn't handle things as well as he could have.
HERE IS THE VIDEO:
There are several Carmine's locations in North Texas. Each is individually owned.
CBS11 is told all have been bombarded with angry phone calls.
The owners of those locations say they want to make clear they have no connection to what happened.