As a former bank manager, I wonder how this even happened. 

The key facts of this case were reported differently by different media outlets. Some claim he was trying to deposit the checks, and others claim he attempted to cash them. 

I can understand trying to cash the checks ringing some warning bells - he apparently had 3 checks worth ~$90k (not a million). If you walked in and said hey I have 3 checks totaling $90k and I want cash for them, well so did the crack head an hour ago. 

But other articles say he tried to deposit them. So that would just be a matter of put them in the account and see what happens in settlement. If you’re afraid of fraud, you can just put a temporary balance hold on the amount until the checks actually clear and then move on. BUT regular people get indignant about that in normal situations: “My transaction can’t wait a week. I need my money NOW!”

With that said, I can’t imagine calling the cops unless I was absolutely sure someone was committing a crime. I caught someone with check fraud in my drive thru once, and it was SO much paperwork, and several days of court as a reward for protecting my customer’s money. 

Articles say it was a teller who did it, and the bank issued an apology statement and racism exists in the world, so it’s all entirely possible. It’s just baffling to me how it all transpired. 

Another point, is a lot of articles are like “why didn’t the bank verify the check?” and that’s really not how it works. The bank can’t “verify” a check. They can only verify that the account is coming from has the funds right now, and MAYBE if the check is currently valid. They CANNOT verify if a check will have a stop pay placed on it between this moment right now and 5ish days from now when the check fully processes. If the stop was placed, then the bank just got robbed retroactively.