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 .
Isn't it though. As thin as paper and taste like cardboard.
Sorry if the facts get in your way but the man was not even charged with theft.
I know you were there weren't you?
Zero tolerance for any theft no matter how large or unproven the citizen must pay for crimes against the state.
If he doesn't confess to taking the salad then the state will beat it out of him and charge him with resisting.
Let there be no misunderstanding citizens have no rights in this gulag.
The problem is that the manager didn't really know for sure that the man didn't pay. That's why you don't make a big scene about it.
I was eating in a Chinese restaurant once and the waiter offered to bring me a refill on my Coke. When I got to the register, the owner charged me for two Cokes saying "You drink two; I charge two". "Fine" I replied "But I will never come here again". Now the owner is stuck. Does he lose a long-term customer over 15 cents (cost of a coke to the owner)? Yep, he sure did.
In this case and my case, the manager CHOSE confrontation, not knowing what would happen. He gambled. He gambled wrong.
This really needs to stop! If you think we're not living in a police state, you're crazy.
. . and for letting the really dangerous miscreants off. (See my post #182.)
About your tagline: There are American men and women dying alongside, with, and for Muslim men and women. Their blood mixes together in the gutters of Iraq. You ought to do your small part and lose the Michael Moore-style disinformation and morale-deflater, for the sake of our troops.
Very odd. When I read these sorts of stories I wonder if we've been given all the details.
But I'm sticking by my original statement: the manger should have been able to handle this situation. It escalated because the man wouldn't comply with the police, but I don't think the police should have been called.
PS: This: "Guy to police: "F--- Off!" [BZZZZZZZZZZZT BZZT BZZT BZZZT]" totally made me LOL here at work. Thank you for that - my day needs as much laughter as it can get! :-)
Which tells us nothing about whether they require a hand stamp for the salad bar.
That's for the security of the kids. They do provide receipts for payment of food when it is ordered upon arrival at the restaurant.
And if a salad bar receipt is lost? --
I asked him if it was part of a procedure, to call the cops when people are caught eating food they didn't pay for. He advised me that the police are not called until it is felt that the situation can not be resolved any other way.
And that is exactly what the Cheese's lawyer would want him to say.
That was the jist of the conversation.
Sorry, -- but 'the conversation' resolved nothing.
Let's see how much we can make up.
I think the guy was Osama bin Laden disguised as a family man trying to infiltrate pizza places and the manager is a hero and should get the $25,000,000 reward for saving the planet.
Perhaps he should get a statue in Washington D.C. saving the American people from the largest theft in history.
I see you are big into knee-jeck reactions.
1) you feel that all police are crazy, and
That is not what I said, but don't let facts get in the way of defending the police state.
I said screws loose - maybe you think that means crazy (BTW: I feel everybody, including knee-jerkers, are crazy is some way). Being a policeman is a strange job - you have the authority to kill people - you need to be a little different. I have seen many policepeople that are a bit too much into it but I feel that may be necessary. I am sorry that you completely misunderstood what I said but judging by your comment I am pretty sure you were not trying to understand.
2) if someone fails to automatically side against an officer accused of wrongdoing, without knowing more of the facts, they fall into the category of someone who feels "the people serve the police".
That knee-jerk statement has nothing to do with anything I said - so I will just ignore it.
This revelation will save me the effort of trying to conduct any sort of objective discussion with you, where my last attempt to do so had me effectively branded as a Nazi sympathizer.
Clearly you just strike out without actually trying to understand what other people have said.
I agree.
What you say reminds me somewhat of the Civil War threads.
It would be interesting to know why they felt it was necessary to implement those measures. That's a fairly complicated scheme and probably not worth the hassle and expense if they were only losing the price of an occasioanal salad now and again.
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