Black Truck Driver Fired For “Abandoning” Job, After Client Handed Him A Noose
Victor Sheppard, a Black delivery truck driver says that he is too traumatized to return to work after the owner of Ottomanelli & Sons Meat Market placed a noose in his hands. The 37-year-old filed a criminal complaint against the butcher shop owner after he handed him the “gift” back in April.
The NY Daily News reports Joe Ottomanelli passed Sheppard a hand-fashioned noose at the butcher shop on April 5 during a morning meat delivery. “Here is your gift. You can put it around your neck and pull if you want to end it all,” Ottomanelli, 58, said, according to a criminal complaint.
“If you are feeling stressed out I can help you with it.”
WOW.
Ottomanelli is charged with a hate crime over the incident. His lawyer is saying that the victim is lying about being “too traumatized” to work, and that the noose gift was a “joke”.
“I could have lost my life or been badly injured or in jail, and it didn’t mean anything to them. It’s not easy returning to an environment where you mean nothing.” Sheppard said.
Sheppard has not filed a lawsuit against the butcher but, he was refusing to return to his job that still services the shop, demanding they cut off business with them. As a result, the delivery company sent Sheppard a notice on June 9 informing him the company assumed he’d abandoned his job. He was fired over the incident.
Do you think this delivery man deserved to get fired for standing his ground?
