Was it excessive? You make the call: Staff Tackles and Chokes Deaf Shopper for Shoplifting

[Hawkeye-X]

Staff at a Forever XXI in Los Angeles tackled and choked a deaf shopper, Alex Rea, they suspected of shoplifting. Watch the startling footage and you decide if excessive force was used.

According to reports, deaf shopper Alex Rea was leaving a Forever XXI store when he was tackled by a security guard and choked on the sidewalk. A passerby filmed the incident on his phone and caught most of the altercation.

Video is in link - I think Forever 21 is looking at a very large lawsuit for excessive force, discrimination and poor training.

http://en.terra.com/latin-in-america/news/staff_tackles_and_chokes_deaf_shopper_for_shoplifting/hof11061

[PassingFair]

1. (No link).....n/t

[rfranklin]

2. Link...

http://en.terra.com/latin-in-america/news/staff_tackles_and_chokes_deaf_shopper_for_shoplifting/hof11061

[mercuryblues]

3. a link

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-deaf-shoppers-tackled,0,6097535.story

Yes they should be sued. In the article the brother stated he tried to show them a receipt for the purchase. His attempt fell on deaf ears.

Guilty until proven innocent.

[Obamanaut]

5. And there is this from the link in post 2 - more stuff than on the receipt

"Since then, Rea was charged with robbery and assault. Police say that there were items within the bags that were not purchased."

[drm604]

4. There needs to be more than a lawsuit.

This strikes me as criminal assault.

[Bitwit1234]

6. IF they were shoplifting how come this wasn't a police problem

don't they call the police anymore.

[lpbk2713]

7. DU has a "Hearing Impaired" forum. It might be worth a visit.

Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=381


I've had tinnitus in both ears for several years and going out in public is always problematic. I have a "whoosh" noise in both ears at all times. Most hearing aids won't do any good. They would just amplify the noise. There are some that could help marginally but the cost is prohibitive to most people with tinnitus.

Untrained service people don't see a wheel chair or missing limbs so they assume you are just as normal as they are. When you ask them to repeat themselves more often than not they repeat themselves at the same tone, speed and volume. Ask them again and you get a look like you offended them for not paying attention. Most businesses don't realize it but the acoustics of their location just aggravate the problem. I've thought about carrying around with me the results of my latest hearing exam but felt it wouldn't change anything anyhow.

[Ignis]

8. Lawsuit? I'd say they deserve to be horsewhipped for that.

:argh:

But then, I'm partisan on this issue, having worked at the Braille library in LA for a few years. YMMV.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. They should have hollered out a warning.

Sorry. A Dick Cheney homunculus on my shoulder made me say that. In fact, my own hearing isn't so great.

I think such an attack constitutes assault and should be prosecuted as such.

[pipi_k]

10. It didn't happen EXACTLY like people would like to believe...

judging from the second link.

Police found items in the bag that couldn't be matched to receipts. Yeah...stuff like that "just happens". Shit just jumps into shopping bags when we're not looking. :eyes:

OK, so they attempt to leave with things that, judging from the story, they hadn't paid for. They're deaf...not STUPID. Did they really think they'd get out of the store without someone either stopping them, or jumping on them?

The video doesn't show the initial attempt to stop these guys...only the "assault". Questions there, too. Did a security guy attempt to stop these guys only to have them try to push their way out the door?

Those security guys were dressed in suits and ties, so it's pretty obvious...except to a blind person, which the two deaf guys were NOT...that they're security personnel, not common thugs. Stop struggling, go in the store and prove you haven't stolen anything. What could be easier than that? No. The one on the ground chose to struggle, forcing the guy trying to catch him to use measures to keep him there, probably for the police themselves to handle.

I'm sorry, but these two guys seem to have caused much of their own misery. Which isn't to say that the security guy didn't use excessive force, but I don't see any evidence of the deaf guy passing out from being "choked". He certainly had enough air to struggle as hard and as long as he did...

[demigoddess]

13. I find stuff like that in my shopping bags all the time, no kidding

sometimes the computer says a this is a that on the slip or it is so convoluted you don't know what item it means. and these guys were apparently neanderthals who need to be sued AND sent to jail for attacking a deaf guy. Make them learn sign language to get off parole!!!

[pipi_k]

16. It's easy enough to figure out though, isn't it?

Unpack bag... ten items.

Cash register receipt only lists five items.

Check prices on receipt against prices on items, and see which ones match.

Or have a cashier do another scan on all the items and match the second receipt with the first.

These two guys didn't look like they came from another planet where the rules of behavior are radically different from here on earth and where they wouldn't understand that they're being stopped for a reason and making a big brouhaha isn't going to make things any easier on them.

Like I said, the video doesn't show what happened before the "attack" and whether the security guards tried to do this decently and peacefully.

[Raineyb]

15. Really? Because I wasn't aware that common thugs had a uniform which makes a suit necessarily

indicative of one's non-thug status.

[pipi_k]

17. Hmmm....let's see...

two guys in a store, one of them wearing a suit and tie AND a security badge. That usually means someone doing a job.

Oh, and then another guy appears wearing what obviously looks like a white shirt with a security patch on the arm.


So it's true that common thugs don't have uniforms.


But store security personnel do.


People...even deaf ones...who don't want to be part of a big production need to stop and take care of whatever business needs to be taken care of.

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. Video was played on LA news. I always find these videos disturbing to watch

[slampoet]

12. NO PERSON has the right to choke anyone over a non-violent crime.

These guards have violated this person's Federal Civil rights.

[laughingliberal]

14. Quite excessive, I'd say. He was turning purple, FFS. nt