We’re seriously behind the curve on this, but our friends at Racked posted an item earlier this week detailing an awful story of a woman who says she was falsely arrested for shoplifting at the Target at the Atlantic Terminal Mall. Racked writes that she was “hauled handcuffed out of the store, thrown in the back of a police car and taken to a jail in Bed-Stuy, where she spent ten hours in a jail cell and was charged with Petty Larceny, a crime that could land her in the clink. Deciding to fight back, she’s hired an attorney and is blogging about her plight.” Her crime? Talking on a cell phone and straying over a “Point of Sale” line in the store. A bit of her story, as recounted by Racked:
Nicola is shopping at Tar-gét, Brooklyn, using a reusable canvas Wholefoods bag. The items in the bag include a Jovovich-Hawk dress, a book by Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan, and a twin sized inflatable mattress. She steps into the Customer Service area to check her messages, still in the store, by the trolleys and the 1 hour photo, never leaving the shop floor…Suddenly she feels a hand on her shoulder. “Come with me now” the average sized, red shirted man rushes her to a room forcefully, and Nicola protests “I have to listen to my messages” followed by “I’m not finished shopping – what is this about?”. It transpired that she unknowingly crossed the “Point of Sale” and rather than look her in the eye or listen to what she has to say, they say they are going to press charges.
She has started a blog, but it seems to be devoted to raising some money to pay for a lawyer. Be careful where you shop and what you do while you’re there.
7 responses so far ↓
1 nick // Apr 2, 2008 at 6:25 am
i’ve said it before, i’ll say it again.
this is not a targét, the proper mantle for it is:
tar-ghetto
please, mothership taget, disavow this store!
2 Anonymous // Apr 2, 2008 at 7:20 am
Boycott dehumanizing big-box stores and national chains! Support locally-owned and -operated businesses!
3 Anonymous // Apr 2, 2008 at 9:08 am
it seems the whole foods bag excuse is a likely excuse in the event she got caught. You dont go into a store and put items in another stores bag. It would be interesting to know what would have happened if the security waited to see if she would have left after her phone call.
4 Anonymous // Apr 2, 2008 at 11:03 am
I’m going to say that this story does not add up.
A customer, not using a shopping cart or basket, puts a number of Target items in her bag… including an air mattress… and then walks past the registers…
Her excuse that she needed to use her phone is very unconvincing. I’d say this customer was “probing” the security of the store. And if no one had stopped her at customer service, she was walking out the door.
THAT BEING SAID, as far as I know, Target (or any other retailer) cannot arrest you for shoplifting until you have exited from their property. You could be stuffing cans of tuna down your pants, but unless you’ve left the store, you’ve done nothing illegal.
Yes, you can use your own bag as she did, even in the store. If that’s all this story was, then she’d be in the clear. But walking pass the registers, to the customer service… which happens to be a few steps from door…
I think like many cases of shoplifting – the infamous Winona Ryder incident comes to mind – when you “go to the videotape” the defendant’s story often does not hold up.
5 Anonymous // Apr 2, 2008 at 5:54 pm
More likely, they thought she was a photographer trying to take a picture of some property marginally owned by Bruce Ratner.
6 Anonymous // Apr 2, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Target’s corporate policy allows their pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions based on personal conviction. They suck already.
7 Anonymous // Apr 3, 2008 at 6:25 am
Her blog doesn’t link back to anything. it only shows the paypal shit. I find her whole delemma sad. Sad that no one listened to her. Is it reverse profiling because she is white? Or a big fat scam.