Wrongfully Accused

[G.Smythe]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia



My wife, my 16 yr old son, my 2 yr old daughter and I went shopping at a large retail store. My son had wanted to buy his girlfriend a Valentine's Day gift, and I agreed to help him pay for it. I gave my son $400 cash, to purchase the CD for his girlfriend, and the phone I was giving my wife for Valentine's Day.

I had asked my son to purchase the phone, a phone case, car charger and get the CD while I kept his mother busy shopping on the opposite side of the store.

My son pushed his sister in her stroller and went to the electronics department of the store. My wife and I went to the grocery department to buy our groceries.

We were in the store for over half an hour when my wife and I got paged overhead to report to Customer Service Desk. Fearing something had happened to our kids, we took off running toward the Customer Service Desk.

Once we got there, a large African American male asked us to step off to the side so he could speak to us. He went on a profanity riddled diatribe about how my "F*cking Scumbag Son stole from his store, and he was going to have my son sent to Juvenile Hall". The man then berated me, saying I was an unfit father, and that my wife and I deserve to have DFACS take our kids. We did get into a big screaming match / argument, and I demanded that I see my son.

After 5 to 10 minutes, he took my wife and I into the back room, into the security office where another guy had my kids. My son & daughter were both crying, and everytime my son tried to talk, the other guy told him to "Shut the F*ck up" and kept calling my son numerous cursive insults.

I told the guy I wanted proof of the theft, and he showed me a 15 second video of my son placing the phone, accesories & CD into the diaper bag. So, I asked my son & he said he purchased the item, and the cashier told him he could put it in the diaper bag. My son then said he was approached by the guy and told to come to the security room.

The security officer said, he did not see my son pay for the items, and he only saw the concealment of the items. I asked the guy if he spoke to the cashier, and he rudely stated to me "Cashier help customers, I dont talk to them and they dont help me put F*cking scum like your b*tch son in jail".

So, I asked my wife to go get the lady, and the security refused to let her leave until the police arrived.

The police arrived, and asked my son what had transpired. My son told them he grabbed the CD, got the phone charger, case 7 went to the phone counter. He asked for the phone, and the lady rang up his order. He then said he wanted to hide the items from his mom, as its her Valentines Day gift, and the lady said he could put them in the diaper bag. He said he gave her the money, got the change & receipt and stepped off to the side and put the items in the bag.

The cop asked for a copy of the items, and the receipt. My son pulled the receipt from his pocket and handed it to the cop. The cop and security officers checked the receipt against the merchandise and agreed to let my son go. So, I rudely asked "Why didn't you just asked if he had a receipt or not"? And the cop said I could be arrested for intereferring with official police business.

So, my questions are:

Can I sue the security officers for false apprehension? Kidnapping?
Can I sue the store for false apprehension? Kidnapping?
What are my legal recourses?

 

[TheGeekess]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia



My wife, my 16 yr old son, my 2 yr old daughter and I went shopping at a large retail store. My son had wanted to buy his girlfriend a Valentine's Day gift, and I agreed to help him pay for it. I gave my son $400 cash, to purchase the CD for his girlfriend, and the phone I was giving my wife for Valentine's Day.

I had asked my son to purchase the phone, a phone case, car charger and get the CD while I kept his mother busy shopping on the opposite side of the store.

My son pushed his sister in her stroller and went to the electronics department of the store. My wife and I went to the grocery department to buy our groceries.

We were in the store for over half an hour when my wife and I got paged overhead to report to Customer Service Desk. Fearing something had happened to our kids, we took off running toward the Customer Service Desk.

Once we got there, a large African American male asked us to step off to the side so he could speak to us. He went on a profanity riddled diatribe about how my "F*cking Scumbag Son stole from his store, and he was going to have my son sent to Juvenile Hall". The man then berated me, saying I was an unfit father, and that my wife and I deserve to have DFACS take our kids. We did get into a big screaming match / argument, and I demanded that I see my son.

After 5 to 10 minutes, he took my wife and I into the back room, into the security office where another guy had my kids. My son & daughter were both crying, and everytime my son tried to talk, the other guy told him to "Shut the F*ck up" and kept calling my son numerous cursive insults.

I told the guy I wanted proof of the theft, and he showed me a 15 second video of my son placing the phone, accesories & CD into the diaper bag. So, I asked my son & he said he purchased the item, and the cashier told him he could put it in the diaper bag. My son then said he was approached by the guy and told to come to the security room.

The security officer said, he did not see my son pay for the items, and he only saw the concealment of the items. I asked the guy if he spoke to the cashier, and he rudely stated to me "Cashier help customers, I dont talk to them and they dont help me put F*cking scum like your b*tch son in jail".

So, I asked my wife to go get the lady, and the security refused to let her leave until the police arrived.

The police arrived, and asked my son what had transpired. My son told them he grabbed the CD, got the phone charger, case 7 went to the phone counter. He asked for the phone, and the lady rang up his order. He then said he wanted to hide the items from his mom, as its her Valentines Day gift, and the lady said he could put them in the diaper bag. He said he gave her the money, got the change & receipt and stepped off to the side and put the items in the bag.

The cop asked for a copy of the items, and the receipt. My son pulled the receipt from his pocket and handed it to the cop. The cop and security officers checked the receipt against the merchandise and agreed to let my son go. So, I rudely asked "Why didn't you just asked if he had a receipt or not"? And the cop said I could be arrested for intereferring with official police business.

So, my questions are:

Can I sue the security officers for false apprehension? Kidnapping?
Can I sue the store for false apprehension? Kidnapping?
What are my legal recourses?

You can sue anybody for any reason; but those reasons you mention are criminal, not civil.

You and your family can find somewhere else to shop.

 

[Zigner]

You can sue anybody for any reason; but those reasons you mention are criminal, not civil.

You and your family can find somewhere else to shop.

False imprisonment IS a tort in GA

 

[Silverplum]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia



My wife, my 16 yr old son, my 2 yr old daughter and I went shopping at a large retail store. My son had wanted to buy his girlfriend a Valentine's Day gift, and I agreed to help him pay for it. I gave my son $400 cash, to purchase the CD for his girlfriend, and the phone I was giving my wife for Valentine's Day.

I had asked my son to purchase the phone, a phone case, car charger and get the CD while I kept his mother busy shopping on the opposite side of the store.

My son pushed his sister in her stroller and went to the electronics department of the store. My wife and I went to the grocery department to buy our groceries.

We were in the store for over half an hour when my wife and I got paged overhead to report to Customer Service Desk. Fearing something had happened to our kids, we took off running toward the Customer Service Desk.

Once we got there, a large African American male asked us to step off to the side so he could speak to us. He went on a profanity riddled diatribe about how my "F*cking Scumbag Son stole from his store, and he was going to have my son sent to Juvenile Hall". The man then berated me, saying I was an unfit father, and that my wife and I deserve to have DFACS take our kids. We did get into a big screaming match / argument, and I demanded that I see my son.

After 5 to 10 minutes, he took my wife and I into the back room, into the security office where another guy had my kids. My son & daughter were both crying, and everytime my son tried to talk, the other guy told him to "Shut the F*ck up" and kept calling my son numerous cursive insults.

I told the guy I wanted proof of the theft, and he showed me a 15 second video of my son placing the phone, accesories & CD into the diaper bag. So, I asked my son & he said he purchased the item, and the cashier told him he could put it in the diaper bag. My son then said he was approached by the guy and told to come to the security room.

The security officer said, he did not see my son pay for the items, and he only saw the concealment of the items. I asked the guy if he spoke to the cashier, and he rudely stated to me "Cashier help customers, I dont talk to them and they dont help me put F*cking scum like your b*tch son in jail".

So, I asked my wife to go get the lady, and the security refused to let her leave until the police arrived.

The police arrived, and asked my son what had transpired. My son told them he grabbed the CD, got the phone charger, case 7 went to the phone counter. He asked for the phone, and the lady rang up his order. He then said he wanted to hide the items from his mom, as its her Valentines Day gift, and the lady said he could put them in the diaper bag. He said he gave her the money, got the change & receipt and stepped off to the side and put the items in the bag.

The cop asked for a copy of the items, and the receipt. My son pulled the receipt from his pocket and handed it to the cop. The cop and security officers checked the receipt against the merchandise and agreed to let my son go. So, I rudely asked "Why didn't you just asked if he had a receipt or not"? And the cop said I could be arrested for intereferring with official police business.

So, my questions are:

Can I sue the security officers for false apprehension? Kidnapping?
Can I sue the store for false apprehension? Kidnapping?
What are my legal recourses?

What does the race of the person who bounced you have to do with anything? No. Really. What does it have to do with anything at all?

And what, pray, are "cursive" insults? If they are the ones you have included in your post, don't do that in the future here on FA. We don't need to read that.

 

[G.Smythe]

what does the race of the person who bounced you have to do with anything? No. Really. What does it have to do with anything at all?


And what, pray, are "cursive" insults? If they are the ones you have included in your post, don't do that in the future here on fa. We don't need to read that.

Its called presenting the facts.

what i wrote is the cleaned-up version, i tried to show the forum exactly how my minor son was spoken to, by an adult. It was not meant in any disrespect to the forum, but to give those who may help me, the needed dialogue that transpired. There are some laws that may be subject to complaints by the foul language. Once again, i apologize.

 

[HomeGuru]

Cleaned up version? Please don't give us the other version.

 

[tranquility]

The key to shopkeepers privilege is reasonable. If the investigation of your son did not quickly include a demand to see a receipt, a good case can be made the defense will not hold up. I would certainly see an attorney, although it is a problem in that there may not be much in damages. But, it is well worth your while. Also, if wife was unable to leave without any legal reason when she wanted to see the cashier, she was also falsely imprisoned irrespective of any defenses to son's detention.

 

[LdiJ]

The key to shopkeepers privilege is reasonable. If the investigation of your son did not quickly include a demand to see a receipt, a good case can be made the defense will not hold up. I would certainly see an attorney, although it is a problem in that there may not be much in damages. But, it is well worth your while. Also, if wife was unable to leave without any legal reason when she wanted to see the cashier, she was also falsely imprisoned irrespective of any defenses to son's detention.

I agree with this advice. The security officer's behavior was completely unacceptable and did indeed rise to false imprisonment. You may not get anywhere beyond getting the security officer fired, but the security officer deserves to be fired. Your son had a receipt...he was obviously not allowed to even speak enough to state that he had a receipt.

 

[You Are Guilty]

Out of curiosity, how did they take your son into the back room? Did he go voluntarily? Did they grab/pull him in? (Anything that increases potential damages increases the chances of a lawyer taking the case).

 

[eerelations]

Its called presenting the facts.

what i wrote is the cleaned-up version, i tried to show the forum exactly how my minor son was spoken to, by an adult. It was not meant in any disrespect to the forum, but to give those who may help me, the needed dialogue that transpired. There are some laws that may be subject to complaints by the foul language. Once again, i apologize.

Again, what does the man's race have to do with this? And "presenting the facts" is meaningless unless you are including this in a larger presentation of all facts however irrelevant they may be, including the following:

1. the colour of the walls of the store;
2. the brand names and models of the store's furniture;
3. the name of the store and of everyone who works there;
4. the races and genders of everyone who works at this store and of all the customers who were present that day;
5. and so on ad nauseum.

However, if by "presenting the facts" you didn't mean presenting all the facts, you just meant presenting the relevant facts, then again, please explain the relevance of this man's race to your story.

Finally, "cursive" doesn't mean anything like what you think it means. If you're not sure of a word's meaning then please don't use that word, it just makes you look even more foolish.

 

[You Are Guilty]

Finally, "cursive" doesn't mean anything like what you think it means. If you're not sure of a word's meaning then please don't use that word, it just makes you look even more foolish.

Nonsense! It is very clear from the story that this imposing hulk of African-American beefiness formed invectives and joined them in a rapid flowing style similar to verbal handwriting.

Duh.

 

[swalsh411]

Again, what does the man's race have to do with this? And "presenting the facts" is meaningless unless you are including this in a larger presentation of all facts however irrelevant they may be, including the following:

1. the colour of the walls of the store;
2. the brand names and models of the store's furniture;
3. the name of the store and of everyone who works there;
4. the races and genders of everyone who works at this store and of all the customers who were present that day;
5. and so on ad nauseum.

However, if by "presenting the facts" you didn't mean presenting all the facts, you just meant presenting the relevant facts, then again, please explain the relevance of this man's race to your story.

Oh get off it. You're just race baiting. OP doesn't owe you any explaination. If you think the OP is racist and not deserving of your help then don't post here. But you shouldn't crap up the thread with your nonsense.

We get it. You're over-sensitive about race and a person being called "African American" gets you all hot and bothered.

 

[HomeGuru]

This thread is getting more interesting.

 

[Silverplum]

Its called presenting the facts.

Nope.
There are at least seven or eight other people in your story, none of whom you identified by race.

I wonder, why is that?

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Nonsense! It is very clear from the story that this imposing hulk of African-American beefiness formed invectives and joined them in a rapid flowing style similar to verbal handwriting.

Duh.

Possibly he is a sexually insecure, white, hetero-sexual male. Some of them are intimidated by female attraction to beefy black males.

Regardless, he and his wife should consult an attorney regarding the treatment she and their son received. It does not appear store security was properly trained and may have illegally detained and degraded both of them.