During the holiday rush, many people pick up seasonal work to help make ends meet. Amazon’s “Flex” program, which allows contractors to use their own vehicles, is a popular choice. But for one Black North Carolina Amazon driver and her teenage son, a recent routine delivery route almost turned fatal because of a simple mistake.
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On Dec. 14 at 9:30 p.m., Tashika Trimble, who works as a seasonal delivery driver for Amazon, pulled into Sidney Pittman’s driveway on Jones Springs Church Rd in Ellerbe, about 75 miles east of Charlotte. Trimble’s 16-year-old son was with her for the delivery, according to local news station WSOC TV.
Trimble told The Richmond Observer that her “GPS directed me to an address and we turned into the driveway.” Upon arrival, Pittman, a 23-year-old white man, answered the door and told Trimble that she had the wrong address. She found the correct address and went to leave, but that’s when the evening almost turned tragic.
“I put my car in drive…just about to move a little, we hear a shot, I hear little pricks hitting the car,” Trimble alleged to the outlet. “I didn’t know where it was coming from. So…I grab my gun, I looked left to right and my son was like, ‘Mama, no. Just go.’ So, I left.” Pittman allegedly fired at her car with his shotgun. Neither Trimble nor her son was injured.
Trimble told reporters at a rally attended by local civil rights advocates that she did complete her delivery and was shaken, but managed to call for help after the alleged shooting.
The next day, sheriff’s deputies responded to Pittman’s address, recovered the shotgun he allegedly used to fire at Trimble’s car and arrested him, Law & Crime reported. He was charged with discharging a weapon into an occupied property and injury to personal property. However, more are charges could be pending.
The sheriff’s office are investigating purported racist comments Pittman allegedly made on social media after the alleged shooting.
Pittman was booked into the Richmond County Jail and posted $200,000 bond. His next court date is Jan. 8.
Trimble said Pittman’s two charges aren’t enough during a press conference and that “he should have a lot more. There were two bodies in that car— it was me and my son in that car.” She added, “There’s no way he should have just two charges with two people in the car. What about our lives in that car? Do we matter?”
When Trimble was asked what she would tell Pittman if he were to apologize, she replied that he “could stick that up his ass…I don’t want it. He can keep it.”
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