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- Jul 20, 2013
Full Story:
Cliffs:
- Go to a store next to my local Target
- Witness two male security guards excessively & brutality restraining a woman accused of stealing in front of said Target (EDIT: She was resisting quite profusely the entire time)
- I approach, express my thoughts, call the cops
- Operator reacts as if they were in the right
- Thoughts?
Ok, so this just happened. I was on my way home from school when I remembered I wanted to run a couple of errands to some stores (one being Target). I go to the other store first as I thought they'd be closing soon, purchase some new T-Outliners & was going to drop off my bag in the car before I hit the Target that is a few feet away from it. As I'm walking to my car, I hear a commotion coming from that direction so I begin to walk towards it.
Almost simultaneously, I notice a crowd gathered and find out the commotion was a woman screaming. I then see that some woman in response to her resistance, is being manhandled by two male security guards. For the moments I was paying attention to the crowd, I was stupefied that no one was recording (even tried to look for evidence online as little while ago). I hesitate for a moment as obviously she was trying to steal something from what she was screaming but these two guys were going hard in the paint with their restrainment of her. I'm talking slamming her against the wall, onto the floor, and it looked like one was choking her with a forearm when he had her up against the wall (she excaimed this at this point as well). I mean, they're using every type of tactic that law enforcement uses on a daily basis (this plays into the story btw
)
No one was saying anything directly to them so idk, I just felt compelled to tell them to kickback with all that and approached them to the point that I was several feet away at the most and expressed what I felt. At the same time, you know I'm conflicted internally, on whether to escalate my involvement in a physical sense (probably stemming from some moral standpoint I suppose) or not to as I'm well aware from the context of the situation, she was caught attempting to steal something. So I call 911, explain what I'm witnessing & as soon as I told the operator whyI believed this was happening, her tone throughout the rest of the conversation explicitly suggested that they were in the right. Immediately as my brain realized what she was implying, I was like "why the **** did I even call them? Did I truly expect a human response?"
They ended up dragging her back into the store, as I stood there blankly with a mixture of complex emotions. To put this into perspective, before I witnessed this, I was having a great day and I was wylin' out in the whip to some Sampha as I pulled into this shopping center. Omw home after this, I drove in complete silence the entire time. As the crowd began to disperse, a woman approached me and in short we discussed the situation and she commended me my actions based off of what she deemed was "the right & only thing I could do."
But why do I feel as if I didn't do enough? I felt at the time that security guards do not have the authority nor training to handle that type of situation and especially over some like a ******* purse. Seriously, Target has insurance for things like that & even if they didn't, they have so much money that they wouldn't feel it AT ALL over something so miniscule. And then let's go into the 911 operator's reaction... seriously, it's systemic. I'd like discuss this & hear your guys' opinion on the situation. How would you have handled it? Where they in wrong or do you believe they have the right according to the parameters of a "citizen's arrest?"
Almost simultaneously, I notice a crowd gathered and find out the commotion was a woman screaming. I then see that some woman in response to her resistance, is being manhandled by two male security guards. For the moments I was paying attention to the crowd, I was stupefied that no one was recording (even tried to look for evidence online as little while ago). I hesitate for a moment as obviously she was trying to steal something from what she was screaming but these two guys were going hard in the paint with their restrainment of her. I'm talking slamming her against the wall, onto the floor, and it looked like one was choking her with a forearm when he had her up against the wall (she excaimed this at this point as well). I mean, they're using every type of tactic that law enforcement uses on a daily basis (this plays into the story btw
No one was saying anything directly to them so idk, I just felt compelled to tell them to kickback with all that and approached them to the point that I was several feet away at the most and expressed what I felt. At the same time, you know I'm conflicted internally, on whether to escalate my involvement in a physical sense (probably stemming from some moral standpoint I suppose) or not to as I'm well aware from the context of the situation, she was caught attempting to steal something. So I call 911, explain what I'm witnessing & as soon as I told the operator whyI believed this was happening, her tone throughout the rest of the conversation explicitly suggested that they were in the right. Immediately as my brain realized what she was implying, I was like "why the **** did I even call them? Did I truly expect a human response?"
They ended up dragging her back into the store, as I stood there blankly with a mixture of complex emotions. To put this into perspective, before I witnessed this, I was having a great day and I was wylin' out in the whip to some Sampha as I pulled into this shopping center. Omw home after this, I drove in complete silence the entire time. As the crowd began to disperse, a woman approached me and in short we discussed the situation and she commended me my actions based off of what she deemed was "the right & only thing I could do."
But why do I feel as if I didn't do enough? I felt at the time that security guards do not have the authority nor training to handle that type of situation and especially over some like a ******* purse. Seriously, Target has insurance for things like that & even if they didn't, they have so much money that they wouldn't feel it AT ALL over something so miniscule. And then let's go into the 911 operator's reaction... seriously, it's systemic. I'd like discuss this & hear your guys' opinion on the situation. How would you have handled it? Where they in wrong or do you believe they have the right according to the parameters of a "citizen's arrest?"
- Go to a store next to my local Target
- Witness two male security guards excessively & brutality restraining a woman accused of stealing in front of said Target (EDIT: She was resisting quite profusely the entire time)
- I approach, express my thoughts, call the cops
- Operator reacts as if they were in the right
- Thoughts?
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