I was serious. What if the ACLU is setting these up for fundraisers?
Since this thread is back....I’ll repost here; as I already sent this to you privately, no response is necessary, lh.
It’s possible it’s a fund raising ploy for the ACLU; for that reason alone I would never contribute to this guy.
But I think he raises a valid point concerning police authority to arrest when ID is not produced when no crime has even been committed. There doesn’t appear to be an Ohio law that forces consumers to allow their property, once purchased, to be subject to inspection, or consumers to be illegally detained, otherwise I’m sure the cop would have made sure to include that on the charges pressed against him.
This guy did not commit a theft, and the store had no suspicions or evidence of such. He merely did not allow his bag to be inspected or produce a receipt.
That, in itself, is not grounds for suspicion of theft to warrant detaining. Stores have to have actual suspicion of a theft HAVING already occurred...meaning, the person must be outside the property, and this same person must have been observed to take property for which they did not pay.
I dislike the idea of being forced to produce identification to police for no reason. IMO, there was no legal reason that the cop arrested this guy. Unless there is an Ohio law that we do not yet know about....but then, again, the cop would have charged him for more than a failure to produce ID.