EXCLUSIVE: Customer's dashcam video exposes 'blatant racism' by Bay Area auto shop workers
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- A Peninsula man is looking for accountability after he says a tire shop damaged his car. He says what his dash cam video uncovered was much more serious than just a cracked windshield and nicked paint.
Bill noticed a prominent crack on the driver's side of his BMW Z4's windshield, after a trip to America's Tire in Santa Clara on September 10th to have a flat tire replaced.
"I went home and checked the dash cam video to see what happened with my windshield, and I found what they were doing to my car and disrespecting me and my vehicle."
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What Bill, who only wants to go by this nickname found, was the two employees took his car out for what can be described as a joyride.
The dashcam video reveals hysterical high-pitched laughing and a man saying "Bro, I'm so done for the day!"
Bill says hearing the employees say they're going to throw valve stems may have contributed to the cracked windshield and/or a nick in the paint on the hood.
In another portion of the video, a man can be heard saying "I guess the customer's not here, let's go!"
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But what is perhaps most distressing is what was said next.
"What da hell? Too fast!"
The workers can be heard mocking Bill, using some kind of Asian accent.
"It's blatant racism" says Bill.
When asked about his reaction to the video, Bill says he was appalled.
"I was pretty horrified. And shocked. And later I became pretty furious."
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Bill says after he alerted America's Tire about the damage and sent America's Tire the dashcam video the company offered to file a claim to repair his BMW.
But things didn't escalate until a car enthusiast friend of Bill's, with nearly a quarter-million followers on Instagram, posted the video showing the worker's behavior.
Bill says he got a call from the assistant to the Vice President of the company.
"They haven't really tried to apologize to me for what happened, they blamed the employees for what happened."
After a trip to America's Tire along Steven's Creek Boulevard, a manager said he could not comment directly, but said the two employees were no longer working at that location.
TAKE ACTION: Resources to help the Asian American and Pacific Islander community
ABC7 News' Dion Lim followed up with America's Tire PR, who sent ABC7 News this statement:
"America's Tire was recently made aware of the contents of the video and is sorry for the inappropriate conduct of two employees. We moved swiftly to investigate and the two employees are no longer employed by America's Tire. The Customer has been contacted and the vehicle damage claimed is being addressed. At America's Tire, our policy is to treat all customers with the respect they deserve. Any conduct otherwise will not be tolerated by America's Tire."
Bill says the company did offer to give him a new set of tires and $5,000 if his friend took down the video. To him, it's not enough.
"It's definitely insulting because they're not treating me as a victim of racism, but they're treating me as a PR nightmare.
ABC7 asked America's Tire, in response to their statement, what they would do to address the racist mocking. Dion's question was not answered in time for deadline.
