security stopping people at exit

I am in California. I am middle eastern.
well tonight i went to a best buy with a backbag on and as i was exiting the store this woman was exiting at the same time and the alarm started going off. then the security guard completely ignores the white woman and comes after me, asking to see inside my bag. I told him no, as an American citizen, it is my right to refuse to show whats inside my bag. I didnt cause the alarm to go off anyway. it was the woman. so he grabs me by the shoulder and wont let go and he says either i will show him whats inside or he will take me inside and call the cops. not wanting to go any further with this, i showed him.
now my shoulder hurts, and i have a damaged backbag because he pulled it so hard.
this sure smells like racial profiling, why me, why not the white woman?
it also smells like assault. you cant grab someone by the shoulder and pull them. if this isnt assault i dont know what is.
well, at the end, i gave the security guard 2 middle fingers and left.
this is all on camera. I talked to the manager and she basically told me to go f myself (we will review the tapes and take appropriate action, blah blah.)
my questions are:
1. should i contact corporate and report this? Do you see any reason why I could get in trouble over this?
2. Do I have a case for my backbag and my shoulder hurting?
3. could i get in trouble for showing the middle finger in public?
4. is it all over at this point? is it possible that i will get in trouble over this? I am innocent, but who knows, maybe they could charge me with disorderly conduct or something.

I would like to contact corporate and ask them to review everything on tape and get back to me. I want to get really nasty, but I want to make sure I am in the right here. I dont want to pursue this any further if there is a chance that I will get in trouble for it.

I would love to hear a criminal lawyer's opinion on this.
and please, dont tell me "just show your damn bag"...its about the principle.

why not claim gender profiling as well.

If I saw a person with a backpack and another person without one and the alarm goes off when they both walk past the sensors, if I can't stop both, the one with the backpack is the one that I will make sure I stop.

. I told him no, as an American citizen, it is my right to refuse to show whats inside my bag.

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why, yes you do but they also have the right to detain you, given the circumstances, and call the police and let the police deal with it.

why not the white woman?

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because she apparently didn't have a large bag strapped to her back designed to carry things on her person.

you cant grab someone by the shoulder and pull them. if this isnt assault i dont know what is.

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it depends on exactly what they did. If you resisted, no, it isn't an assault. If you did not resist (but from the tone of your statement, I would find that very hard to believe), then you might have a case.

1. should i contact corporate and report this? Do you see any reason why I could get in trouble over this?

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You can and I would expect them to investigate the matter. So far it really doesn't sound like they did anything wrong. As to getting into trouble; if nothing was found on you, no.

2. Do I have a case for my backbag and my shoulder hurting?

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maybe but see above

3. could i get in trouble for showing the middle finger in public?

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no.

4. is it all over at this point?

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sounds like that is up to you. If they found nothing on you, it is as far as they are concerned.

is it possible that i will get in trouble over this?

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not if there was nothing to support you were committing a crime.

I am innocent, but who knows, maybe they could charge me with disorderly conduct or something.

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unless you got really rowdy and punched somebody, it's over.

I would like to contact corporate and ask them to review everything on tape and get back to me.

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nothing wrong with that

I want to get really nasty

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right or wrong, getting really nasty won't get you anywhere. Where they might review the situation if you talked with them like an offended customer, if you come across like a jerk, they will likely ignore you. They have no requirement to do anything at this point.

and please, dont tell me "just show your damn bag"...its about the principle.

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You're right. It isn't just the principle. It's about the laws and when that theft device was actuated, they did have a right to stop you and investigate the possibility of a theft.

I would like to get a clarification on one of the points/questions...

It is NOT disorderly conduct to flip somebody off?
what about if a verbal f-u was done at the same time?

mahmoud316 said:

I am in California. I am middle eastern.
well tonight i went to a best buy with a backbag on and as i was exiting the store this woman was exiting at the same time and the alarm started going off. then the security guard completely ignores the white woman and comes after me, asking to see inside my bag. I told him no, as an American citizen, it is my right to refuse to show whats inside my bag.

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Under the circumstances, the alarm and your possession of an object capable of concealing stolen property would have been sufficient reasonable suspicion to detain you.

now my shoulder hurts, and i have a damaged backbag because he pulled it so hard.

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Then submit a claim for damages to the store. Though I fail to see how he could have damaged your book bag by tugging at it ... unless it was already damaged.

this sure smells like racial profiling, why me, why not the white woman?
it also smells like assault. you cant grab someone by the shoulder and pull them. if this isnt assault i dont know what is.

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In CA it would not be assault. You can claim battery, but I doubt that it would go very far.

And you can try to argue racial profiling, but, again, I doubt that would go very far.

If you have damages, then you can make a claim to the store. Be sure to bring estimates for a replacement to the book bag and a copy of any medical bills and a doctor's statement indicating that your injuries were consistent with being tugged in the manner that you were. Understand that the store likely has video of the event, so if you are seeking the lawsuit lottery you better hope that the video supports your claim of unreasonable force.

1. should i contact corporate and report this? Do you see any reason why I could get in trouble over this?

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You have every right to complain. The only trouble you might get in would be in the form of, "Please do not enter our stores again."

2. Do I have a case for my backbag and my shoulder hurting?

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Do you have a doctor's opinion? Medical bills? An estimate for the replacement of the book bag? I doubt you have a good claim, but you can always ask.

3. could i get in trouble for showing the middle finger in public?

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Generally, no.

4. is it all over at this point? is it possible that i will get in trouble over this? I am innocent, but who knows, maybe they could charge me with disorderly conduct or something.

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I doubt you could be charged with any crime if your account is accurate

I would like to contact corporate and ask them to review everything on tape and get back to me. I want to get really nasty, but I want to make sure I am in the right here. I dont want to pursue this any further if there is a chance that I will get in trouble for it.

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They are under no legal obligation to do as you ask or get back to you. They might ... they might not.

carguy31 said:

I would like to get a clarification on one of the points/questions...

It is NOT disorderly conduct to flip somebody off?
what about if a verbal f-u was done at the same time?

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No. It is not generally a crime. However, if it is seen as a challenge to fight, it might be a crime (though that doesn't seem to be the case here). And in some jurisdictions (like mine) if you flip someone off or curse at them and they pop you, the guy that pops you is not likely to get charged with battery.

In your case, I don't see a crime.

For shopkeeper's privilege, the key is reasonable. Was the force used reasonable? From the description of events it seems it was, but if the OP can prove otherwise he can sue for the tort of battery and the store would not be able to defend itself with the privilege.

hey guys, thank you for you advice. the people on this forum are so cool.

CdwJava said:

No. It is not generally a crime. However, if it is seen as a challenge to fight, it might be a crime (though that doesn't seem to be the case here). And in some jurisdictions (like mine) if you flip someone off or curse at them and they pop you, the guy that pops you is not likely to get charged with battery.

In your case, I don't see a crime.

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flipped my ex and told her to eff off as I was walking away. well I was sure arrested for it. tackled by two cops, and hauled to jail. when I wanted to see the law they threatened to tase me.
so OP, don't feel too bad....

carguy31 said:

flipped my ex and told her to eff off as I was walking away. well I was sure arrested for it. tackled by two cops, and hauled to jail. when I wanted to see the law they threatened to tase me.
so OP, don't feel too bad....

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so, what was the result. Charged with something? If so, what?

arrested, taken to jail, charged with disorderly conduct, convicted, paid fines.

convicted or accepted a plea? The finger and the ef off, especially in retreat just doesn't make sense, by itself, as a DC charge.

I think the fact the cops were right there may be the clue I overlooked in your first comment about this though.

justalayman said:

I think the fact the cops were right there may be the clue I overlooked in your first comment about this though.

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since when is the law different if the cops are there or not?

carguy31 said:

since when is the law different if the cops are there or not?

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It's not but if the cops were already there, I suspect there was more going on than you walking down the street and flipping her off. That is what Carl was speaking to previously. By itself, it really isn't PC to be arrested but if this was part of a confrontation, especially is something happened like there were cops there and they told you to walk away and you stopped and did this, well, then we are talking about a totally different ballgame.

we are fair to midland hijacking this thread here....

what happened: was at the gas station and she was going to leave me there. I took the keys out of the ignition when she wasn't looking (probably for makeup in her purse or something, can't remember what now..(her ignition, her car, she was driving) anyways I took the keys out and dropped them in the floor or beside her in the seat. So I'm obviously not being the nicest guy at the time, but I didn't want her to just leave me there. She call;s the cops and says I stole her keys (which I didn't believe she really did at first, but she was pretty insistent she did). so at this point I'm like fine, I'm out of here. so I get out of the car and i'm leaving as two cops pull in and tell me to come back, where are the keys and what not. I told them they were in the car and she finds them but the whole time she's been cussing me up and down and they don't say anything to her. They told me i was free to go so I start walking off and she yells at me again. I just turned around, gave her the finger, eff off and kept walking. they basically tackled me and took me to jail.

I know that sounds bad and looking back really dumb but I had enough of her just degrading me and since I felt like I probably wasn't going to see her again I let her know how I felt.
I'm pretty embarrassed telling what happened but I hardly think it was worth a trip to jail.

I think the OP has been satisfied. It was a shock as most people that ask such questions argue forever but this guy simply accepted the truth./


well, obviously a person tends to tilt the table in their favor so, while your rendition makes the charge sound a bit bogus, it takes very little to make it legit. That little difference could be one simple word or your interpretation of the facts:

2. Engages with at least one other person in a course of disorderly conduct as defined in paragraph 1 of this subsection which is likely to cause substantial harm or serious inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, and refuses or knowingly fails to obey an order to disperse, made by a peace officer to the participants.

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"Disorderly conduct" as used in this section means a course of conduct by a person who:
1. Causes public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creates a risk thereof, by:
a. engaging in fighting or in violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior,
b. making an unreasonable noise or an offensively coarse utterance, gesture, or display, or addressing abusive language to any person present,
c. dispersing any lawful procession or meeting of persons, not being a peace officer of this state and without lawful authority, or
d. creating a hazardous or physically offensive condition which serves no legitimate purpose; or

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If the cop told you to leave rather than simply said you are free to go, that one word might have made the difference.