SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – A well-known church pastor filed suit against Arrowhead CU for wrongful arrest after he was accused of check fraud then handcuffed at the credit union’s in-store branch in a crowded supermarket here.
Terry Elliott, known in the community as Pastor T. Elliott of Mount Zion Baptist Church, was arrested Dec. 20 when he tried to cash a check after a credit union employee mistakenly thought it was a stolen check. The Pastor spent five hours in lock-up at the city jail before the error was cleared up.
The Pastor alleges in his suit that credit union employees lied to police about the check, then lied to police about the nature of his past transactions.
"Arrowhead has habitually profiled minorities and overreached, and has been particularly and routinely negligent with their facts, especially when it relates to minorities to have them arrested under false pretenses," reads the suit.
The day after the incident, Arrowhead CU President Larry Sharp sent Elliott a letter of apology and made a $3,000 donation to Mount Zion Baptist Church, one of the city’s prominent African American churches. Arrowhead officials did not return phone calls seeking comment last week.
