Colorado woman sues banking giant JPMorgan for ‘racial discrimination’ after manager accused her of being rude and called police

A Colorado woman is suing banking giant JPMorgan after she claims she was “racially discriminated against” by a Chase Bank branch manager.

Jeanetta Vaughn, 61, filed a complaint with the District Court naming JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Trina Pelech as the defendants.

The 61-year-old was at the Chase Bank on Buckley Road in Aurora, Colorado, when she claimed to have been approached by Pelech.

Police bodycam footage and bank surveillance cameras obtained by kdvr make Vaughn sit in a chair before Pelech comes over to talk to her.

The June 9, 2022 interaction led to Pelech calling two Aurora police officers to the branch claiming that Vaughn was trespassing.

Footage shows Vaughn walking into the bank to get checks from a banker. She slowly walks in and sits down on a chair to tell the outlet that she was hoping to unlock her bank card.

Vaughn, a former government employee, told kdvr that she locked her bank card because of her time in that career.

Pelech can then be seen walking up to Vaughn, who claims she asked if she “needed anything.”

“I told her, ‘No, I’ll unlock my card on my phone and then I’ll go upstairs and do my business,'” she explained.

The complaint alleges that Pelech then told Vaughn ‘you don’t have to be rude’.

“She says, ‘Well you’re not welcome here, I’m the branch manager and you’re not welcome here,’ and I said, ‘What do you mean?'” Vaughn claimed.

“My money is here, my bill is here, and she said, ‘Well, you’re not welcome here and I’m going to call the police.'”

Pelech has been accused of going to the back of the branch and calling 911 — an audio recording obtained by the outlet claimed she accused Vaughn of trespassing.

“She told me to go away, she told me she would come up when she was done and not to give her the 411, very rude,” Pelech can be heard saying.

Officers promptly arrived on the scene and spoke to Vaughn and Pelech.

“All she had to do was tell me what she was doing and not the snappy attitude and threaten me with video,” Pelech told a responding officer.

A member of Chase Bank since 2019, Vaughn was appalled by the way she was treated.

“She didn’t seem to be a threat to me,” said an officer who spoke to Pelech in their interaction.

The bank didn’t put up any signs prohibiting withdrawals, Vaughn didn’t come across as aggressive and “being rude” isn’t a law enforcement matter, or so you heard police say on bodycam, the outlet said.

“All I saw was handcuffed, dragged out, shot or something,” Vaughn explained.

The old customer said she then waited for her husband to arrive before leaving the bank.

“This is something that has to stop. Whether it’s at a banking institution or a supermarket, movie theaters, wherever you are — I have a right to be there,” said Vaughn, who was never charged with trespassing.

The complaint also alleged that four discrimination complaints had been filed at the same business location since September 2021.

“There’s a reason our country witnessed actions like the Woolworth sit-ins during the civil rights era,” said Iris Halpern, Vaughn’s attorney.

‘True equality requires equal access to goods and services for everyone.

“That’s why we have laws in this country that protect against racial discrimination in the restaurant, movie theater, gym, and bank.”

Halpern added that “the police and the power they wield should not be exploited as a means of excluding people of color from full participation in society.”

A spokesman said briefly kdvr “We disagree with the accusation. That’s the only comment we have.’ It remains unclear whether Pelech still works at the bank.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Pelech, Vaugh and JPMorgan for comment.