Two Karens throw out black Hispanic family from their neighborhood lake

A black Hispanic family were barred from swimming in the lake in their gated community by two Karens – who are both actually named Karen.

Karen Belair and Karen Amici, who are both white, threatened to call the cops on mother-of-two Katherine Jimenez as she swam with her kids at Beech Mountain Lakes in Drum, Pennsylvania, where the family has owned a home for four years.

The two Karens, who worked at the community, summoned an armed security guard because Katherine had forgotten her resident card.

The guard interrogated the mother in front of her sons Timothy, 11, and Amir, eight, and her nieces Jasmine and Desiree, both 18, about whether they had the right to use the lake.

The incident happened on June 28 as Black Lives Matter protests swept across the United States.

Katherine, 29, a clinic nurse, said: ‘I have lived in this gated community for four years and I’m a frequent visitor of the amenities.

‘It was a hot Sunday afternoon and I had this young girl approach me and ask me for my resident card.

‘I said that I didn’t have it but that I knew my account number. She said that was fine and gave me a bracelet.’

But once the children were in the lake, Karen Belair, the recreation supervisor at the community, confronted Katherine by the lakeside.

‘I have seen this woman multiple times so she knows I live here,’ Katherine said.

‘I explained that I didn’t have my resident card but I knew my number and I had my car with me which has my current resident sticker on it.

‘She told me that I had to leave and get my resident card.’

Katherine refused to leave because her kids were already in the water – and then Belair called her supervisor Karen Amici, the acting general manager of the community, who instructed her to call the cops on the family.

‘Karen told her to tell me that if I don’t get out to get my card, they were going to call the cops,’ Katherine said.

‘They threatened to call the cops to kick me out of my own community.’

A security guard arrived and told Katherine to leave the lake and return with her resident card.

A white fellow resident, Samantha Ashby, 35, began filming the interaction and accused the officials of racism.

She pointed out that none of the white residents had been asked for their resident cards.

In the clip, Samantha tells Belair and the security guard: ‘I’ll walk around the beach right now and ask how many people had to show their membership cards and I guarantee you it won’t be many.

‘What’s happening right now is not right. I am a white girl and no one said anything to me.

‘They happen to be the only family of color at the beach and you’re messing with them.

‘Why are they the only family on the beach that is getting harassed?’ 

Belair insisted she had no way of knowing that Katherine and her children were ‘valid.’

She said: ‘Those girls have no way of checking if she’s valid.’

In the clip, Katherine becomes increasingly upset and her partner Timothy Roane, 32, a maintenance supervisor, arrives to support her.

Later that day after the incident, Timothy wrote an email to the board of the gated community decrying the treatment his partner had received at the lake.

He wrote: ‘I have been a Beech Mountain resident for over four years now, and I must say, I am appalled and disgusted by the treatment of my partner and children at the beach today by your staff.

‘How come the only minority family at the beach is being hounded for a card and kicked out due to the lack of one?’

Katherine and Timothy attended a board meeting on July 29 and asked that both Belair and Amici be fired and that their amenity fees for this year be returned.

She said: ‘The board president came to our house and said that none of that was going to happen and handed me a written apology.

‘That happened a month later – it took them a whole month to apologize.’

The family have not been to the lake since and are still reeling from the racist behavior of the two women.

Katherine said: ‘We were denied to be in the places that we paid for and it was obviously because of our skin tone and the way we speak.

‘Nobody else was being harassed. It was humiliating and embarrassing.’

Both Belair and Amici declined to comment on the incident when contacted by DailyMail.com.

The Beech Mountain Lakes Association released a statement through their attorney at Slusser Law Firm.

‘Upon learning of the incident, the Beech Mountain Lake Board of Directors took immediate investigative action, including an extensive and detailed meeting with the family involved.

‘We also conducted interviews of all Beech Mountain personnel involved, as well as receiving videos that were provided to us.

‘The involved family is in possession of a video which they chose not to share with the Beech Mountain Lakes Board during their investigation, and as such, and obviously, we were not privy to the family’s video and what was depicted thereon.

‘The Board, before taking any action, wanted to ensure that it had complete perspective on the issues as they surfaced on the day in question.

‘Upon completion of its investigation, absent the family video that was not shared, the Beech Mountain Lakes Board took appropriate disciplinary action and so notified the family involved.

‘With the foregoing in mind, be advised that Beech Mountain Lakes Board does not condone any racist conduct from any employee, nor any resident. The Board will continue to act immediately and aggressively on any issues that should surface of similar nature.’