Civil Rights & Constitutional Law
African-American diners file race-discrimination suit against Bahama Breeze
September 10, 2018
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Video footage of Shirelle Copeland's encounter with police and Oak and Embers owner Marc Garofoli in 2021
Cleveland, OH – Shirelle Copeland expected to enjoy a nice evening out with her family, but she was instead met with an unwarranted call to the police after her son was twice served chicken wings that tasted soured and spoiled, a civil-rights complaint filed today in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas alleges.
Copeland politely asked the restaurant’s manager to remove the wings from her bill. The restaurant’s owner and operator, Marc Garofoli, the suit alleges, refused to remove the item—but he didn’t stop there. The suit alleges he threatened Ms. Copeland, and then called the Orange Village police. The suit alleges that Garofoli assumed just because Ms. Copeland is Black, that she was refusing to pay for her entire meal. And, the suit alleges, he felt entitled to deploy the police in this markedly hostile manner.
Garofoli’s conduct harmed Ms. Copeland’s entire family. Ms. Copeland’s son has a disability and suffers from nervous tics, the suit alleges, because of Garofoli’s discriminatory actions and the fear associated with his mother’s police confrontation. Especially at a time when our nation has publicly grappled with the impact of violent and deadly encounters between police officers and Black citizens, this confrontation caused severe fear.
In video footage taken by Copeland, she discusses the mistreatment she faced at the establishment with the police officer called to the scene. The police officer was sympathetic to Copeland’s situation and concerned about the unnecessary call to the police. Toward the end of the video, Garofoli loudly insisted in front of the officer that Ms. Copeland “get out” of the restaurant. The officer reassured Ms. Copeland that she was not in the wrong, saying he’s not a “collection agent” for Oak and Embers. Garofoli treated Ms. Copeland like a criminal, the suit alleges, even after the police agreed she isn’t.
The family’s complaint alleges the following violations of Ohio law against Garofoli and Oak and Embers’s parent corporation:
The family is represented by Subodh Chandra and Alexandra Lavelle of The Chandra Law Firm LLC.
The case is captioned Copeland, et al. v. LG Darrow, et al., Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CV 25-110271, and is assigned to Judge Shannon Gallagher. The complaint may be found here.
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