Just damn.
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Posted on 03/02/2005 7:09:34 AM PST by esryle
AURORA, Colo. -- Aurora police have reviewed a weekend incident in which a man accused of stealing salad from a Chuck E. Cheese salad bar was hit with a stun gun twice by officers and said that proper procedures were followed.
The incident began at 4:05 p.m. Sunday when officers were called to the restaurant on a report of a larceny in progress.
Police talked to the Chuck E. Cheese manager, who told them that a customer had refused to show proof that he had paid for food. The manager said the man was seen "loading" his plate at the salad bar.
The officers confronted Danon Gale, 29, who was at the restaurant with his children, aged 3 and 7. Patrons said the popular kids pizza parlor was packed with children and families at the time.
According to police, Gale was asked to step outside to discuss the incident.
"According to witnesses (Gale) refused to cooperate with police and a struggle ensued," said Larry Martinez, a police spokesman. He said that Gale became argumentative and shoved one of the officers, a fact disputed by another patron.
"One of the officers kept poking the gentleman in the chest," Felicia Mayo told the Rocky Mountain News.
She was there with her 7-year-old son. She told the newspaper that Gale told the officer "You don't have to do that." She said Gale never put his hands on the officer who was confronting him
The argument escalated until Gale was shoved into the lap of Mayo's sister, who was sitting two booths away, holding a 10-month-old baby. That's when police pulled out a Taser stun gun to subdue him.
"They beat this man in front of all these kids then Tased him in my sister's lap," Mayo told the newspaper. "They had no regard for the effect this would have on the kids. This is Chuck E. Cheese, you know."
Gale's two children were "screaming and hollering and crying" as Gale was hit two times with the stun gun.
Police arrested Gale as his children and other customers watched. They took him outside, leaving his children inside the restaurant.
Gale was arrested for investigation of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and trespassing.
His two children were picked up by a relative.
The manager of the restaurant declined comment and Gale said he couldn't talk about it, after hiring an attorney.
An Aurora Police spokesman said that the sergeant on the scene wrote a report on the incident and forwarded it to his commander who determined that proper police procedures were followed relating to the use of the Taser gun .
How was he supposed to handle this? He asked the guy to show proof he'd paid and he refused. What should have been the manager's next move?
Excellent post, Thank You
Retired, Sheriffs Department, 28 yrs.
Couldn't have said it better.
He's reduced to either accepting the customer's word or causing a scene. When I was in the restaurant business, we avoided scenes at all costs. Food was cheap.
So? Take your kids with you. Apparently, he should have. Or else he wouldn't be in this mess, would he?
Must keep those pesky citizens in line.
Pick their pockets to pay your salary and arrest them at every opportunity
This whole thing was the manager's fault. If Gale turned out to be a mental case and started hurling chairs at people, the same people here who blame the police for intervening would be whining "Why didn't the police do something before it got out of control?".
You can't win with some people. The manager should be fired.
It's not a "simple situation" if Mr. Gale was belligerent. And indeed, the few facts reported in this story -- refusal to step outside, two taser zaps, and the start of the incident itself (there had to be a reason they asked if he'd paid) -- would seem to indicate that he was belligerent.
Yes you have to pay in advance and yes they do stamp your hand, that is why there is more to this story.
" Not saving a reciept for salad is not a crime."
It is to this bozo!!
Sorry, but clerks end up getting shot over $1.50 of beer at liquor stores. Should we tell them to never call the cops when people walk in and take things off those shelves? What's the difference?
ALLEGED Larceny.....and since the manager might certainly be a typical fast food joint minimum wage moron.......I will reserve condemning the customer.
"You can smile America, at Chuckee Cheese"
Smile Dammit!!!!
Good point. The mgr. should have asked him to leave, but instead he escalated the situation.
Give the customer the benefit of the doubt.
The guy probably spent a lot more on his kids pizza then and at other times too.
If the guy does it again then refuse him service.
But calling the cops for $2.50 is way overboard.
The manager should have kept his mouth shut. Salad is cheap. He was making money.
When you were tased did you end up on the ground doing that "Funky Chicken"???
Just damn.
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Having just survived a C.C. birthday party for my grandson, I can assure you each kid was stamped along with a parent. Not sure if they allowed both parents stamped, but the child could not leave with anyone else except the person who had the matching stamp, not even Dad, if he didn't have a stamp due to parking the car, etc. We were not stamped because we weren't the parent entering with the child. We could not have left with any child, according to their system, and they had people checking at the only exit.
LOL. The guy was eating a salad for Pete's sake. Two officers should be more than capable of handling a salad theif and his children without resorting to using a taser.
Why should the manager have to jump through hoops to determine if the guy paid?
LOL again. The manager should have exhausted every option before calling the police AND perhaps he did. Time will tell.
Makes you wonder if something else was going on, too, doesn't it? Again: I don't trust the media to put out the full facts of any story like this. As reported here, it's a really juicy story, and they can have a good time with it.
But what if -- as is likely, IMO -- there's more to it?
Ask him to pay for a salad? Ask that he and his children leave if he refuses?
Maybe this manager isn't worth his/her salt - anyone with simple people skills should have been able to "diffuse" this situation.
Was it really worth ruining not only this man's night (remember, he was NOT charged with larceny for alledgedly stealing the salad), but the rest of the families trying to have a nice time that night?
I thought I lived in a country where we are considered "innocent until proven guilty" - not "guilty until tasered by police in the middle of a family resturant only to be later proven innocent."
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