Posted on 03/01/2005 11:04:12 AM PST by socal_parrot
AURORA, Colo. -- Aurora police are reviewing a weekend incident in which a man accused of stealing salad from a Chuck E. Cheese salad bar was hit with a stun gun twice by officers.
The incident began at 4:05 p.m. Sunday when officers were called to the restaurant at 145005 East Exposition on a report of a larceny in progress.
Police talked to the Chuck E. Cheese manager who told them that a customer had refused to show proof that he had paid for food. The manager said the man was seen "loading" his plate at the salad bar.
The officers confronted Danon Gale, 29, who was at the restaurant with his children, aged 3 and 7. Patrons said the popular kids pizza parlor was packed with children and families at the time.
According to police, Gale was asked to step outside to discuss the incident.
"According to witnesses (Gale) refused to cooperate with police and a struggle ensued," said Larry Martinez, a police spokesman. He said that Gale became argumentative and shoved one of the officers, a fact disputed by another patron.
"One of the officers kept poking the gentleman in the chest," Felicia Mayo told the Rocky Mountain News.
She was there with her 7-year-old son. She told the newspaper that Gale told the officer "You don't have to do that." She said Gale never put his hands on the officer who was confronting him
The argument escalated until Gale was shoved into the lap of Mayor's sister, who was sitting two booths away, holding a 10-month-old baby. That's when police pulled out a Taser stun gun to subdue him.
"They beat this man in front of all these kids then Tased him in my sister's lap," Mayo told the newspaper. "They had no regard for the effect this would have on the kids. This is Chuck E. Cheese, you know."
Gale's two children were "screaming and hollering and crying" as Gale was tasered with two times with the stun gun.
Police arrested Gale as his children and other customers watched. They took him outside, leaving his children inside the restaurant.
Gale was arrested for investigation of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and trespassing.
His two children were picked up by a relative.
The manager of the restaurant declined comment and Gale said he couldn't talk about it, after hiring an attorney.
If given a choice, I think I would rather be tasered than shot, beaten with a club, or pepper sprayed. Actually, I would rather just cooperate and avoid any pain whatsoever. Why people think they can ever win an argument with a cop is beyond me.
I'm sure that the few cents that the salad bar might have cost the resturant was a lot less than the bad publicity this whole incident has/will cause...
I have no idea. Not ever having any kids, I have not been to one. LOL!
"From experience I can tell you that many times the guests DON'T hold onto their reciepts."
I bet that same experience helps prevent you from calling the police on customers who paid for their meals. What I mean is, somebody at your counter probably would have remembered taking money from the guy.
We had this group of Pentecostals who used to come in on Sunday night. They often took trips to the salad bar without paying but my boss just wrote it off. It was when they started unplugging the juke-box and infuriating the other customers who put money in there that we had to do something. About the time I plugged it back in one night and they began singing above the volume of the juke box and we had to call the cops because they would not stop.
Sometime people just refuse to act right.
WOW! I thought that place was long gone.
o rly and what would ppl in nudist camps do that required a taser
The gestapo klan here at FR will support cops no matter how malicious and harmful they behave toward ordinary citizens.
ie: "the guy deserved it, he should have followed their command to step outside (forget about his young children),he should have stood there and took it while being poked in the chest and insulted by the cop(forget about his young impressionable children) , he should have rolled over and laid down once he was shoved across the room into the lap of another patron by the peaceful cop(forget about his young and impressionable children)...
Then of course there will be lots of jokes...
Not funny. Cops today seem to be on a rampage against ordinary citizens. If their behavior continues with this current trend, we need to not only take away their tasers, we need to take away their guns too.
If that was what was happening, then that store was not following the rules of the company...
"I'm sure that the few cents that the salad bar might have cost the resturant was a lot less than the bad publicity this whole incident has/will cause..."
As in my post above, some business owners are more willing to put up with theft than others. I presonally do not believe in letting someone steal from me at will to keep them quiet. That's called extortion.
"This guy should have just walked outside to talk to the cops. HE is the one responsible for forcing the cops to subject children to violence."
I disagree. Did you read the article? According to a witness, the cop was poking him in the chest. His response? He said, "you don't have to do that." Then they shoved him into the lap of another patron, and tased him in front of a group of children. The cops started the confrontation, and then escalated it to violence.
A cop has no right to lay hands on a citizen if he's not making an arrest. You don't get to provoke someone by poking him in the chest. Either arrest the guy for suspicion of theft, or leave him the hell alone.
According to me an @$$hole is an @$$hole whether they're a cop, a Democrat, or a Republican.
Being an @$$hole respects no political, social, and/or cultural boundaries.
"Maybe he didnt want to leave his kids inside alone." - selkie
Oh, you mean with all the soccer moms and the giant mouse? If he wanted to handle the situation reasonably he would have put his kids down at a table with a pizza and stepped toward the door to talk where the kids were probably still in sight. Pushing a policeman is not the action of a responsible parent anyway.
Of course that only applies if he is the one that went to the counter to the counter to pay...
Now at least one of us is an @$$hole on this thread. Please don't prove it isn't me....
"Comply!!!...Lawful order!!!!...Children!!!"
Yep.
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