*A husband is now apologizing for the racist behavior of his wife inside a Phoenix gas station, saying she suffers from an undiagnosed mental illness. And the woman who slapped her in the midst of her racist rant says that “her heart hurts” over the whole situation.
According to Greg Conn, the man who filmed the incident, the white woman, now identified as Tamara Harrian, came into the Superpump gas station near 7th Street and Greenway Road in north Phoenix complaining that her pump wasn’t working and wanting a clerk to help her immediately. She then began yelling at a woman, now identified as Karina Rodriguez, to “Go get in line.” Conn said that Rodriguez replied, “‘Excuse me, I can help myself,’ and that’s when it all started.”
Conn said Tamara claimed to be the manager of the gas station before telling clerks not to serve Karina.
“Are you the manager?” Rodriguez can be heard asking on the video.
“Yes, you need to leave. You need to leave. We are not serving her,” Harrian said.
From there, the argument escalated, with Harrian telling Rodriguez at one point to go back to where she came from. Rodriguez was heard making the point that Native American’s are more American than white people, and asked the woman the origin of her ancestors. Harrian grabbed her arm at one point and Rodriguez smacked her across the face.
In a statement, Superpumper said: “The woman shown in the video is NOT and never has been a manager, employee, or owner at Superpumper. She has been banned from all our locations. Superpumper does not condone any type of racist or hate speech in any of our stores or offices. We strive to provide a peaceful, safe, and enjoyable atmosphere for all customers and employees.”
“Horrible things were said and a lot of those horrible things came from my wife. It came from a spot of an illness,” Bob Harrian, Tamara’s husband said. He apologized on behalf of his wife and said she suffers from an undiagnosed mental illness that she has refused treatment for. Asked why there has been no diagnosis, he said he was unable to involuntarily commit her because she was not a danger to herself, and his wife doesn’t believe she is mentally ill.
“This is your spouse you have known and loved for 30 years and she is starting to slip away. And you are trying to get her help but you can’t get her help because she doesn’t think there is anything wrong with her,” Bob Harrian said.
Rodriguez said in a Spanish interview with Telemundo, “My heart hurts. When I left I cried a lot, it makes me very sad that this is happening. She came very authoritatively as if she were status in which we will have to serve her, a level that we did not have.”
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