Free Statement - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

Case 2:03-cv-01913-IVIHIVI Document 73-7 Filed 05/10/2006 Page1 0f4 I

) `
Q . AFFIDAVIT OF CHARLES TIMOTHY SGHIRRA
. STATE OF ARIZONA l _
_ P _ lss ‘
- County of lvlaricopa ) I _
I, Chfarles 'Timothy Schirra, being first duly sworn upon my oath, state the I
following: - _ I
l. I am a 3'I year—old white male; . ·
i 2. I was employed as a salesman at Pinnacle Nissan—Infiniti in Scottsdale, Arizonay "
for approximately two weeks in the fall of 2000;
_ P 3. Nlr. Patrick Beeman was the Director of Human Resources at Pinnacle Nissan-
Infiniti during my tenure of employment there;
4. l\/lr. Beeman is the individual who hired me as a salesman at Pinnacle Nissan- -
Infiniti; ·
5. ln approximately October 2000, in the Infiniti showroom, several employees of l I
" Pinnacle Nissan—lnfiniti, including l\/lr. Beeman, were discussing the rec_ent media
g coverage that Pinnacle Nissan—lnfiniti had been sued for allegedly engaging in
racial discrimination; _ l . I ‘ _
6. ln fact, during this discussion, a television news truck was in front of the
l dealership filming the dealership; J U - `
7. During this discussion, l heard ll/lr. Beeman say that in light of the lawsuit that .
'll guess we’ll have to change the dress code and start wearing whitehoods and
robes";
8. l also heard Mr. Beeman and a Desk Manager employed by the dealership whose l ·
name I cannot recall refer to- lVliddle—Eastern customers as ”dot-heads" and
. ”sand-niggers" after a customer walked into the showroom who they apparently
believed was from the lx/liddle—East;
A 9. The Desk Manager also told me that, ”lf you see an Arab come into the store,
run, because they will keep you the_re all day, and you will never make a `cent `
on theldeal." When the Desk Manager said this to me, lvlr. Beeman just Z
laughed; _ ` _ _ .
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10. The Desk Manager and Mr. Beeman also said that l\./liddle—Eastern people were ‘
I ”cheap” and that ”they were tough to deal with because if they do not like the
- · deal they will come back and complain"; .
A 11. On another occasipn l heard the same Desk Manager state that a "Jewish”` _
y ·sales'man was really good at selling cars off the ”Hitler Iist,” which l took to i
` mean the so—called .”l—lit List" of cars that the dealership wanted to sell as soon
` as possible; f
t 12. I was very offended bythese remarks, especially given the fact that Pinnacle
. l$|issan—lnfiniti had just been sued Infor racial discrimination and an African- - `
American salesperson was working with a customer right outside when these ‘ · "
comments were made;
13. Soon after hearing these remarks, l decided that I better do something about it,
so I called the General Manager of Pinnacle l\lissan—Infiniti, l'\/Ir. John Cleaves,
from my home after work in order to complain about the comments; A
I 14. Mr. Cleaves appeared to be very concerned with my complaint and told me that
he would personally investigate my complaint a-nd get back to me as soon as
g — possible; i , -
15. About ten minutes after I had spoken to Mr. Cleaves regarding my complaint, Q
I received a telephone call at my home from Patrick Beeman;
15. Mr. Beeman was very angry with me, he asked me ”what the hell is going on"
and told me that Mr. Cleaves had just informed him about my complaint and
that I ”was causing a lot trouble for him" at theldealership by making the r
complaint;
17. Mr. Beeman also told me that he could not be a racist because hiswife was an i
African—American;
18. Mr. Beeman then told me that he had admitted to John Cleaves thathe made
, the comments of which complained, but that he was ”only kidding"; ` I
19. Mr. Beeman then told me that I was no longer ”weIcome” at PinnacleNissan— .
Infiniti and that there was no reason for me to come back to work under the r
circumstances; · ;
20. Based on Mr. Beeman's remarks, l concluded that l had been terminated and f
{ never returned to work; ` L ` . .
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21. I was very surprised that I\/lr. Cleaves would have immediately reported my
complaint to I\/lr. Beeman and was intimidated by l\/'Ir. Beeman.’s telephone call;
22L Although l\/lr. John Cieaves had told me that he would personally respond to my
complaint after helooked into it, I never heard from Il/Ir. John Cleaves again; I 5
23. Before I complained about the racist remarks at Pinnacle I\lissan—Infiniti, I had i
. never been disciplined or threatened with termination in any way;
24. Three or four days after I was terminated, I called Mr. Beeman at Pinnacle t P `
Nissan-Infiniti and asked him when I could pick up my final check in the amount · r T"
of approximately $500.00; `
25. I\./Ir. Beeman started laughing when I asked for my check and told me that E ·
wasn't`going to get paid, he told me, ”You screw with us, we’II screw with
4 you.” l\/Ir. Beeman then hung up the telephone; e
25. I subsequently calledli/lr. John Cleaves approximately two to three times after
speaking with I\/Ir. Beeman in order to ask Nlr. Cleaves when I could obtain my
final paycheck. Although I left Mr. Cleaves several messages informing him that
I\/lr. Beeman was not going to give me my check and asking for his helpi Mr.
Cleaves never returned any of my phone calls, and I never received my final
A paycheck from Pinnacle Nissan-Infiniti.
Q Z/ y 5%/
h · n I Charles Timothy Schirra if
I SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this day of January 2002.
APRIL ROLLAU . ; _ `
an-ya, Nota Pubic- ` ona - · ’ ?
MB,i3,,sal..m, Z I t
'“*¤· E>¤Pir¤508/31/U5 P Not ry Public e_
if 3 . I if
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Case 2:03-cv-01913-MHM

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Case 2:03-cv-01913-MHM

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