Detained by walmart security

[ishtvan222]

What is the name of your state? California

I discovered a way to activate the locking wheels on shopping carts at walmart. I biked down there at started waving my device near the wheels and they locked up. I went around the parking lot trying different carts at different distances. Shorty a lady came out, and this is what I remember of the conversation:

"What exactly are you doing?"

"Playing with the shopping carts"

"How are you doing that show me what you have."

"Just this mp3 player"

"Do you want me to call the police?"

"I feel like I should go home."
I then turned around and biked about 5 feet.
"Is this illegal?"

"Of course its illegal, are you going home or do you want me to take you inside?"

"Do you have the right to take me inside?"

"Do you have the right to lock up the shopping carts, why would you do that?"

"Why would you put locking wheels on them?"

"Go home or Im calling the police."
Then I left the parking lot, and came back in a couple minutes.

After I circled around the parking lot a couple times on my bike, I saw the lady come out of the store with some big buff guy. He yelled at me to stop and I slowly biked toward him. Then he started running towards me and I tried to turn around to leave, but he grabbed my bike and wouldnt let me leave. He demanded that I show him what I had in my backpack. I asked who he was and he said that he was the Manager of LP security. I demanded that he let go of my bike but he didnt. I showed him that all I had was a mp3 player and a coil of wire. I tried to pull my bike away and told him to let go. He didnt and asked me if he wanted me to call the police. He asked me why I was locking the carts up and I said its because I have nothing to do and no job. I asked him if he wanted to give me a job. I then started to make a show so that people would notice this guy grabbing my bike, I began to yell let go of my bike, somebody help me. Before he let go he said that if I do it again he would call the police. I said well good because then they will come here and arrest you or something. At this point a crowd was gathering and I asked someone for help. Then he let go of my bike and I got out of there.

Were my civil rights violated since I asked him multiple times to let go of my bike and he didnt? What course of action should I take? I dont want to sue or anything I just want this to be brought to then attention of the managers there.

 

[racer72]

You were trespassing, security had every right to detain you. Grow up.

 

[justalayman]

I have never seen locking wheels on shopping carts. Is that something to stop them from rolling off the property?

most the carts I seem to get don;t roll well enough to go when I push them let alone just the wind.

anyway,

racer is correct. you were trespassing. Wal-Mart lots are private property and they can restrict you from ever entering any Wal-Mart lot, ever, if they so choose.

If you were trespassing and refused to leave when asked, they had the right to call the police and have you cited or arrested.

as far as is what you were doing illegal?

maybe. radio transmissions are often controlled and require permits or licenses. I am not familiar enough with laws pertaining to this or what you were actually transmitting to give a better answer than that.

 

[pcgumshoe]

He wasn't trespassing until he was asked to leave. If he was told to leave, then he could be trespassed by the police.

As to the shopping cart "locking," some companies are adding a device similar to those devices that prevent your dog from leaving a yard without a fence. It appears that the OP was learning about these things online and went down to the fascist state of WalMart and some under-paid GOON had nothing better to do but harass him.

He broke no law, however, WalMart may have violated the law in DETAINING him and not calling the police. You can't perform a "citizen's arrest" and not call the cops.

 

[Zigner]

He broke no law? Vandalism comes to mind

The locks are intended to prevent the carts from leaving the lot. This helps cut down on the carts being taken in to the surrounding neighborhoods and abandoned.
Some cities (Glendale, CA for one) require that the supermarkets install these systems.

 

[justalayman]

He wasn't trespassing until he was asked to leave. If he was told to leave, then he could be trespassed by the police.

As to the shopping cart "locking," some companies are adding a device similar to those devices that prevent your dog from leaving a yard without a fence. It appears that the OP was learning about these things online and went down to the fascist state of WalMart and some under-paid GOON had nothing better to do but harass him.

He broke no law, however, WalMart may have violated the law in DETAINING him and not calling the police. You can't perform a "citizen's arrest" and not call the cops.

he was told to leave.

From the first post

:"Go home or Im calling the police."
Then I left the parking lot, and came back in a couple minutes.

and don;t try to argue they did not tell him he could not come back. The police and the courts will see this as a tresspass.

 

[CdwJava]

He wasn't trespassing until he was asked to leave. If he was told to leave, then he could be trespassed by the police.

He WAS told to leave.

He broke no law, however, WalMart may have violated the law in DETAINING him and not calling the police. You can't perform a "citizen's arrest" and not call the cops.

It's doubtful he would ever be charged for an unlawful detention of any kind as the kid would have to admit to committing a crime to make the complaint. Additionally, no court I am aware of has ever tried someone for making a detention for a public offense even when the police were not later contacted. Arguably, such a detention is completely lawful in CA as he was trespassing and thus subject to arrest

Personally, I see the OP as a spoiled kid with too much time on his hand ... no job, nothing to do, fiddling with electronic locks, making a scene and being confrontational just for the heck of it ... yeesh! If he's 16 or older his parents need to kick him out of the house during the day and make him get a job so he can learn a little responsibility.

Ishtvan, you can certainly talk to the managers at the store, but I can almost guarantee that they will not side with you. My question to the LP person would have been, "Why didn't you call the police?" The biggest problem here is that the store opened itself up to potential liability by effecting the detention and not calling the police.

There is no "civil rights" case here as Wal-Mart is not the government. You were not damaged, and you were committing a crime ... if the wheels were in any way damaged by your actions, you were committing additional crimes beyond the trespassing charge.

Get a job, and try doing something productive.

- Carl

 

[Zigner]

if the wheels were in any way damaged by your actions, you were committing additional crimes beyond the trespassing charge.

Carl -
As our resident Law Enforcement Officer...
If the wheels have to be "reset" or otherwise unlocked before they operate properly again, wouldn't that count as vandalism? It WILL take resources by the store to restore their property to a usable condition. Much like graffiti which can be painted over...

 

[CdwJava]

Carl -
As our resident Law Enforcement Officer...
If the wheels have to be "reset" or otherwise unlocked before they operate properly again, wouldn't that count as vandalism? It WILL take resources by the store to restore their property to a usable condition. Much like graffiti which can be painted over...

If there is a dollar value that can be assigned to the damage, then it is vandalism. While there may not be an inherent value to resetting the wheels (and I have no idea what needs to be done or expended to do this), there IS a cost associated with the time an employee has to take to reset or repair the wheels.

Thus, because the store had to pay the employee for 15 minutes to reset the wheels, an argument can be made that the crime of vandalism occurred. There might be some jurisdictions where the local DA or court does not see it this way, but where I am they do.

If this had happened, I would have likely transported junior from the scene to the PD and then later issued him a citation for both the vandalism and the trespassing. If he returned again, he'd go to jail.

- Carl