Paul McCowns

A black Ohio man said bank tellers refused to cash a paycheck from his new job, and then called 911 on him, because they were suspicious that he earned so much. Paul McCowns tried to cash his first paycheck from a job with an electric company Dec. 1 at Huntington Bank in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn, reported WOIO-TV.

The paycheck was for a little more than $1,000, and McCowns and tellers confirmed he showed two forms of identification and a fingerprint, as required for non-Huntington customers.

But McCowns said bank employees started looking at a computer screen and questioning the transaction, and ultimately they refused to cash the check without speaking to his employer.

“They tried to call my employer numerous times,” McCowns said. “He never picked up the phone.”

McCowns left the bank, but employees called 911 on him and a police squad car pulled in front of his truck before he could drive away.

“He’s trying to cash a check and the check is fraudulent. It does not match our records,” a teller told the dispatcher, according to call records.

The teller admits McCowns […]