#EatingOutWhileBlack: Subway Employee Calls 911 on Black Family Because She Thought They Would Rob Her

Add eating out as a family on your way back from vacation to the list of things that black people can’t seem to do in peace.

A family of seven who stopped at a Subway in Coweta County, Ga., on Monday to eat dinner said that they had the police called on them while they were there because of their race.

The employee’s 911 call was released and in it, she could be heard saying that he needed someone to respond “now” because the family kept going back and forth the bathroom and maybe putting soda in water cups, according to WSBTV.

The horror.

The Dobsons, meanwhile insisted they did nothing wrong.

The crew, including two parents, their four children, and the children’s aunt were all returning from a grandmother’s birthday in South Georgia when they stopped by the Subway to grab a bite.

The family was in the restaurant for about an hour when the employee made her call.

“I need somebody to come through here please, ASAP. Now,” the employee said in the 911 call. “There’s about eight people in a van, and they’ve been in the store for about an hour. They keep going back and forth to the bathrooms by my back door.”

A Newnan police officer showed up. That officer, the Dobsons said, apologized to them, telling them that the employee was suspicious because she had been robbed before and thought they would rob her.

A family of robbers y’all, including their children – ages 8, 12, 13, and 19 – in the family business, I guess is what the employee thought?

“I have a 24-year-old sister who’s a recent graduate of North Carolina A&T [State University]. My daughter’s 19. She’s entering sophomore year at Wake Forest University,” Felicia Dobson, the matriarch in the group, told the news station.

“I don’t think she ever felt threatened,” Othniel Dobson, Felicia’s husband, added.

“It breaks my heart. We can’t change our skin color. I have great kids. I have a great family,” Felicia Dobson said.

Dobson said the store owner called her on Tuesday evening to personally apologize. The employee, she was told, was placed on administrative leave. But Dobson wants to see her fired.

Subway franchisee Rosh Patel released a statement to WSBTV noting:

I take this very seriously, and I am fully investigating. I have also used this opportunity to reiterate to my staff the importance of making everyone feel welcome.