Posted on 09/03/2007 3:19:20 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
Today was an eventful day. I drove to Cleveland, reunited with my father’s side of the family and got arrested. More on that arrested part to come.
For the labor day weekend my father decided to host a small family reunion. My sister flew in from California and I drove in from Pittsburgh to visit my father, his wife and my little brother and sister. Shortly after arriving we packed the whole family into my father’s Buick and headed off to the grocery store to buy some ingredients to make monkeybread. (It’s my little sister’s birthday today and that was her cute/bizare birthday request.)
Next to the grocery store was a Circuit City. (The Brooklyn, Ohio Circuit City to be exact.) Having forgotten that it was my sister’s birthday I decided to run in and buy her a last minute gift. I settled on Disney’s “Cars” game for the Nintendo Wii. I also needed to purchase a Power Squid surge protector which I paid for separately with my business credit card. As I headed towards the exit doors I passed a gentleman whose name I would later learn is Santura. As I began to walk towards the doors Santura said, “Sir, I need to examine your receipt.” I responded by continuing to walk past him while saying, “No thank you.”
As I walked through the double doors I heard Santura yelling for his manager behind me. My father and the family had the Buick pulled up waiting for me outside the doors to Circuit City. I opened the door and got into the back seat while Santura and his manager, whose name I have since learned is Joe Atha, came running up to the vehicle.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsite.michaelrighi.com ...
A couple years ago, the Supreme Court heard a case similar to this in which a fellow was arrested for not producing identification despite that he was not driving. His arrest was upheld.
Hmmm. Under that line of reasoning, you could substitute anything for "...check your receipt at the door..." and it would be okay.
What if it was:
Walmart and Best Buy perform a strip search at the door; you know that going in.
If you don’t like it, don’t go in.
Or even:
Walmart and Best Buy have thugs that slap you around before you leave; you know that going in.
If you don’t like it, don’t go in.
That wouldn't be okay, would it? Of course not. It's ludicrous to even entertain the notion.
The idea being that just because you are aware of store policy going in doesn't make the policy okay.
Most, if not all, states have laws allowing shopkeepers to detain suspected shoplifters. If you refuse to show a receipt for your "purchase" upon leaving the store, that is going to raise an inference of shoplifting. It's just simply not a false arrest.
Strange response from a guy with your screen name.
Got a foxhole for three? I'm in.
That depends on whether or not you are on private propery. They have a lot of latitude when you are on their property. The best idea is to stay off their property if they engage in this behavior. But I suspect most offended people are powerless to do that because they are sheeple.
No, you're not suspecting everyone of shoplifting. You are suspecting the people who don't show their receipt of shoplifting, which is a reasonable inference. There is simply no reason for a non-shoplifter not to show a receipt. It benefits everyone. It helps the store control shrinkage and helps keep prices down, which benefits consumers.
This guy refused to show is receipt; he was detained. He tried to leave--which is attempted escape (a crime with which he ought be charged)--and he paid a little bit of a price for it. If you want to be a jerk, be prepared for the consequences.
This case is similar to what happened when I was a teen. A convenience store limited the number of teens in the store at one time. The teens argued he was discriminating. He argued it was his property and he was protecting it.
The one thing I remember is that teens would still go to the store. Even the ones making the most noise.
How then can they deal with shoplifting and screening items leaving the store if they can’t look into the bag. That’s what I meant by inspect?
Are commercial stores private property, though? In several instances they are treated as being public property--ADA enforcement comes to mind. Right of entrance comes to mind (With certain specific exemptions). Discrimination laws also apply.
However, they are owned by private individuals or companies. I'm not sure what their status legally is--does it change from instance to instance?
He sounds like a jerk who got what he deserved.
You make an lot of statements as if they were FACTS, yet commercial law is state by state, so there are many different, likely conflicting, sets of situations and laws that you are stating as facts. How do you reconcile that?
There is a bit of a difference in that the store reserves the right to refuse business with anyone, and so he was probably within his rights to limit the number of people. You can pretty much put whatever conditions of entry to your property that you want, but you can’t bar people from exiting.
Of course, being on Circuit City property is not “out in public.” You’re on their property.
What right?
Sure there is. "I would prefer not to be treated like a criminal in your store". Reason enough?
No, not reason enough. You are being unreasonable. If you act like a thief, be prepared to be treated like one.
There are many, MANY other ways to accomplish that. For instance, for big ticket items, you hand the person a tag to pay for the item, and then the customer turns in the tag at a loading dock. Not to mention that most theft is done by employees.
It doesn't matter whether there are other ways to reduce shrinkage or even whether or not most theft is done by employees, which I agree that it is. What matters is that the store has instituted an anti-theft policy, which may be one of many (seen or unseen by the general public) designed to reduce shrinkage. That benefits the store, the shareholders, and the public.
He tried to leave--which is attempted escape his right Fixed that for you.
This is escape under Ohio law. If a storekeeper has detained you and you try to leave, you have attempted escape, which is a criminal offense.
I wasn't aware that being a jerk was illegal nowadays. We're going to have to build more prisons!
It's not illegal. But when this man chose the course of his actions, he made some mistakes. Larger, more serious mistakes followed. Those actions have consequences.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.