Subway employee calls police on black family because she feared they would rob her

A Subway employee in Coweta County, Georgia, made an urgent call to 911 requesting immediate help because they thought a family of seven was robbing the store.

As Channel 2 Action News reported, all members of the family – Felicia and Othniel Dobson; their four children aged eight, twelve, thirteen, and nineteen; and the children’s aunt – were returning from their grandmother’s birthday party in South Georgia.

On their way back home, they decided to eat something at a Subway located on Newnan Crossing Boulevard. After spending about one hour in the place, a police officer arrived and told them that they were suspects of robbing the store.

The Dobsons claimed they didn’t do anything out of the ordinary and they believe that the employee who called the police did it because they were black.

Channel 2 Action News obtained more information about the case, including the urgent 911 call that the employee made requesting immediate assistance from the police.

‘I need somebody to come through here please, ASAP. Now. There's about eight people in a van, and they've been in the store for about an hour. They keep going back and forth to the bathrooms by my back door,’ said the employee.

When a police officer of Newnan arrived at the scene, he apologized to the family and told them that the employee had said they were suspicious of the family. Given the fact that the store had been robbed in the past, the employee thought that the Dobsons would steal it, too.

Subway franchisee Rosh Patel released a statement saying that he took that incident seriously and that he was investigating what happened.

Patel pointed out that he was using that opportunity to reiterate his staff the importance of making every customer feel welcome.

Othniel later revealed that he didn’t think the employee ever felt threatened. He finished by saying that they couldn’t change their skin color and that he had a wonderful family.