Turnpike Commission CEO apologizes for toll collector's racist statements as investigation continues

Penn Live ^ | July 27-28, 2016 | Steve Marroni

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Susquehanna Township resident Carl Shuman was heading home from a business trip in Pittsburgh Monday night, and after a pleasant drive, he pulled up to the toll booth at the Carlisle exit, ready to pay his toll.

There, he was stunned by something that in his more than four decades of driving and in his professional life as an employment-law attorney, he had never encountered -- not like this, anyway, he said.

As the car in front of him left the booth, Shuman noticed the toll collector shaking his head and smirking.

"He said something very close to, 'Them black people. You give them directions and they don't understand a thing. They can't even speak English.'" Shuman said.

He was shocked.

"I was trembling," Shuman said about that statement and what followed. "I was that offended and outraged at what had just transpired."

He filed a complaint on Tuesday, kicking off an investigation by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

"It's certainly something we want to correct and something that we don't tolerate," said Carl DeFebo, spokesman for the commission. "I want to send a very strong message. It shouldn't be happening."

[Baladas]

Did this even happen? Some ambulance chaser’s word sometimes isn’t worth so much. He may have made most of this up to make Donald Trump accountable for an incident that never happened.

Bitch reeks of insincerity in his recounting.

[nathanbedford]

1. The issue is whether a state employee can be disciplined for making racist statements?

2. That question should be entirely unaffected by the alleged "shock" or "offense" is taken by a third-party who heard the alleged remark.

3. The fact that the complaint, an "an employment-law attorney" is so shocked and offended on hearing this remark to the point of "trembling," is implausible on its face.

4. Was the lawyer cited for blocking traffic at a toll booth?

5. What has been the cost of the investigation and involvement of several agencies of the Pennsylvania government?

6. Should a state employee be disciplined for making racist statements about a party to a third-party of a different race? In other words, where is the harm?

7. Should the subjective emotions of "an employment-law attorney" be elevated to the point that it triggers a multi-agency investigation, and possible sanctions (perhaps including termination or "reeducation") against the utterer of the alleged racist language.

8. In other words, are this man's subjective emotions more to be valued and protected by law than the free speech rights of the toll collector?

9. Does the toll collector lose his free speech rights merely because he works for the state or a state agency?

10. Does the right to engage in speech terminate because one engages in racist speech?

11. If an employee of the state loses rights of free speech for uttering racist sentiments, is there a danger that the general public will also lose its rights?

[Cowboy Bob]

I call BS.

[albie]

Funny how this makes the news. Trump’s ss motorcade is attacked by thugs in Minneapolis and nothings said.

[Pollster1]

I've trembled, over words even. A pair of union thugs threatened to break both of my legs when I was a short, skinny teen. I was trembling with fear! I also learned to fight for real after that. I've been mugged a few times, once more or less successfully. Whether I won or lost, I shook like a baby afterwards. But over non-threatening words? That's a Pajamaboy step down from being afraid of guns. I'd take his man card, but I'm sure he turned it in long ago.

[alexander_busek]

Like!

Regards,

[jacknhoo]

Well, the guy mentions Trump but, as we know, there’s not a single Republican vote in that area, so, the toll collector must be a Democrat - blame Hillary if they’re looking to blame a candidate.

[Altura Ct.]

Blah blah blah

I need my safe space.

[VeniVidiVici]

Gosh. Imagine what he would do if he overheard someone saying Black people don’t tip.

[sphinx]

5. What has been the cost of the investigation and involvement of several agencies of the Pennsylvania government?

Isn't that the point? We have armies of people paid substantial salaries for massaging racial hypersensitivities. They go out of their way to create makework to perpetuate their employment.

[DaveA37]

Is the good attorney’s “safe space” inside his car? Whimp. Perhaps he should have considered if what the “toll taker” said had merit.

[gigster]

Toll Booth Ebonics.

[Dr. Pritchett]

The problem with lawyers is that 99% of them give the rest of them a bad name.

[dp0622]

lol. That’s giving the one percent the benefit of the doubt.

[Iron Munro]

'Them black people. You give them directions and they don't understand a thing. They can't even speak English.'

Sounds like he was making nothing more than a plain statement fact.

[Tennessee Conservative]

A friend of mine from Wisconsin and her husband spent a week with us a few years ago. Whenever we went anywhere that we had to talk to blacks she would always say “what did she say, what did she say”. I absolutely had to play translator. There were a few I couldn’t even understand.

One time I called the customer service department for my Discover card. The black lady on the other end was so bad I couldn’t understand a word she said. She got mad and then I got mad. Finally I asked her to put somebody on that could speak English. She screamed “I am speaking English”! I screamed back “could have fooled me” and hung up. I’m normally a very calm polite person and I never scream on the phone or anywhere else but she pushed me over the edge. Not only was she rude, she was stupid too.

[anton]

I didn’t know there were any white toll booth collectors. A new tourist attraction.

[NTHockey]

“I have never encountered a public servant who felt he had the right to spew his toxic bigotry at a customer,”

Must not be listening to the media or watching any Democrat speak. Or the half breed take every opportunity to attack, mock and vilify his opponents.

Typical Liberal cream puff.

“Our Country won’t go on forever, if we stay soft as we are now. There won’t be any AMERICA because some foreign soldier will invade us and take our women and breed a hardier race!” Chesty Puller

[HamiltonJay]

He wasn’t called anything he claims he overheard a toll booth operator talking about someone else... The world is insane.