Outrage after black man in US handcuffed for cashing his pay cheque

Paul McCowns got more than he bargained for when he tried to cash his pay cheque at a bank in Ohio in the US earlier in December.

Bank employees thought the check was fraudulent and called the police on him.

According to Ebony, African American Paul McCowns wanted to cash his $1,000 pay cheque at Huntington Bank in Brooklyn, Ohio. 

The bank, suspicious of the amount and believing the cheque to be fraudulent, demanded to speak to McCowns' employer to confirm that he really is employed and that the amount on the cheque was accurate.

When the bank could not reach McCowns' boss, however, things quickly went south.

NY Daily News reported that a bank staff member then called 911 to report the "fraudulent" transaction.

"He is trying to cash a cheque and the cheque is fraudulent. It does not match our records," an unnamed bank employee told the 911 operator.

Unaware that the police had been called, McCowns decided to leave the bank. He was met by police officers in the parking lot. There he said he was ordered out of his vehicle and immediately handcuffed. "It was highly embarrassing," he said.

While he sat in the back seat of the police car, officers tried again to reach McCowns' employer - and they finally got through.

"My employer said: 'Yes, he works for me, he just started - and yes, my payroll company does pay him that much.'"

It turns out that McCowns had just started his new job at an electric company and the cheque was his first from the company.

According to The Washington Post, the bank was on high alert after no less than 10 recent attempts to cash bad cheques at the branch.

Huntington Bank issued an apology to McCowns: "Anyone who walks into a Huntington branch should feel welcomed. Regrettably, that did not occur in this instance and we are very sorry."

Despite the explanations and apology, McCowns was still upset. "The person who made that phone call - that manager, that teller, whoever made that call - I feel as though they were judging," he said.

With racial division in the US reportedly on the rise under current president Donald Trump, McCowns' experience is not an isolated case. Twitter was outraged, with many calling the incident another example of the racism that is experienced by many on a daily basis.