Chuck E. Cheese patron hit with stun gun after loading up on salad

[NervousRex]

"AURORA, Colo. — Police found themselves in the crosshairs of public criticism after officers used a Taser stun gun to subdue a man accused of pilfering from a salad bar at a Chuck E. Cheese's pizzeria packed with families and young children."
(snip)
"'They beat this man in front of all these kids then Tased him in my sister's lap,'' said witness Felicia Mayo"

http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/5266865.html

:wtf:

[Fenris]

1. Salad bar thieves!

[Must_B_Free]

78. Contact Form For Chuck E Cheese - Tell them what you think!

http://www.chuckecheese.com/feedback/restaurant.html

[retnavyliberal]

2. Bad boys - bad boys - whacha gonna dooooooooooo N/T

[Cuban_Liberal]

3. "Police responded to Chuck E. Cheese's after a manager complained ...."

"...Police responded to Chuck E. Cheese's after a manager complained that a patron had refused to show proof that he had paid for food. Police spokesman Larry Martinez said restaurant employees confronted the man, Danon Gale, 29, after they saw him "loading'' his plate with salad...."

Once again, we don't KNOW what went on inside the restaurant, as the final paragraph makes clear.

[SmokingJacket]

5. Still... when I try to imagine doing anything with a salad that

might deserve a zap from a Taser, my imagination fails.

[Cuban_Liberal]

8. Resisting arrest,maybe?

Don't focus too much on the food.

:)

[AlCzervik]

9. he was probably brandishing a crouton.

[hvn_nbr_2]

22. I was about to say brandishing an artichoke. n/t

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

29. LOL

Those croutons can be quite sharp. You know the ones that are the crust of the bread, making it thin and stronger than the average. Kinda like a carbon "fiber" knife.

[DS1]

31. Maybe the cop was on Atkins, and saw a grave threat

to his utility belt :D

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

11. Paramilitary style police training is making cities poor and me rich

[Susang]

46. You're rich?

Damn, I had no idea! :D

[bpilgrim]

26. he's probably a HUNGRY, homeless, VET

http://images.globalfreepress.com

peace

[LittleClarkie]

30. I was looking for this to be a parody

but alas.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

41. Here is a more detailed story. As usual, police say HE became

combative and witnesses disagree. COps never lie about excessive force.

And frankly, escalating over too much salad or even NOT PAYING for a 5$ salad in a restaurant full of children demonstrates that the cops have the horsesense of an Ass.

(snip)

"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."

http://www.kirotv.com/news/4245190/detail.html

[Susang]

43. This situation could have easily been avoided

The manager of that restaurant deserves to be fired for even thinking about calling the police. When it comes to situations like that, to avoid bad publicity and to keep the peace in the restaurant, you just let it go. Salad bars are dirt cheap, that's why restaurants have them. Hell, I've given away far more expensive meals rather than have someone create a scene that will keep customers away in the future. You never call the cops to the restaurant unless you absolutely have to. This whole thing sounds completely unnecessary and ridiculous.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

48. I don't blame the manager for dealing with it although, as you said

he did his restaurant no favors since Chuck E Cheese is a kid's place and most people don't want their children exposed to violence....but the police shooting a taser gun in a restaurant full of kids were fools when the circumstances seem to argue that one of the officers was complicit in escalating the situation.

Again, I would assert that most communities have repeatedly wanted "community oriented policing" and what they are getting sold is "paramilitary style policing." Why? Community oriented policing doesn't make for very exciting episodes of COPS and doesn't require as much new fangled ridiculously expensive equipment. It's all in the money, honey. Except that paramilitary style policing is getting communities sued for millions as this case will when the guy files a lawsuit on his own behalf and on behalf of his children...and I will bet you a year from now, we'll be reading about a 7 figure settlement in this case.

[Susang]

51. I do blame him

I'm sorry, but as a restaurant manager, you have to be able to deal with your customers without having to call the police. Sometimes it means having to eat a trip to the salad bar rather than have your restaurant's name plastered all over the newspaper. Unfortunately, I have seen many restaurant managers who are have no skills in dealing with the people that they are supposed to be serving. A skilled restaurant manager will rarely have to call the police over something so insignificant as "salad bar theft".

I do agree that the police made the situation even worse by even considering using a TASER in a restaurant crowded with children. The fact that they actually used it while he was in a booth that was occupied by other people makes it even worse. Sometimes I wonder how I ever survived all the restaurants and bars I worked at in the eighties and nineties without one of those things. Oh yeah, I remember now...we actually talked to our customers. :eyes:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

53. Point taken

and yeah..maybe the manager needs a job where he doesn't deal with the general public...he seems to have a knack at "counting inventory" :D

[Susang]

54. Maybe he gets TASERed if inventory's off

I remember the chain restaurants I worked at being pretty harsh sometimes. }(

[Susang]

42. Sorry, but I've never had to Taser any of my customers

And I worked in restaurants for 20 years.

You're right, we don't know what happened in the restaurant. What we do know is, the restaurant manager had a choice to call the police or not call the police. Most of the time when the police are called to a restaurant over non-payment, it is due to the manager being incompetent and unable to handle the situation.

No amount of cheap salad bar food is worth the bad publicity he just generated for his company. He fucked up big time. If he can't handle a salad bar "incident", then how's he going to react when someone tries to run out without paying? Which happens all the time.

[ryan_cats]

4. Damn

They would have probably killed him if he had loaded up his tray with pizza.

Now, I normally support the police but there is no excuse for this kind of action.

[Canuckistanian]

6. What is it with these cops?

I think it's sheer laziness. Instead of dealing with a problem, just whip out the taser. Beats working up a sweat.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

19. Also, they are bankrupting the inner cities with their absurd...

pensions.

:wtf:

[paineinthearse]

7. The Aurora cops need to lay off the caffine nt

[Jose Diablo]

67. What else goes with donuts, except coffee

Surely you don't mean the cops need to give-up donuts?

[karlrschneider]

10. Maybe it's that Yahoo poster anne_tagonize who regularly says "I jacked

off in a Liberal's salad today"........
:eyes: :D

(I'm serious, this sick fuckwad posts that several times a day...)

[NervousRex]

12. Yikes!

...I'll never order Ranch Dressing again.:puke:

[Must_B_Free]

77. No No No - that's at Olive Garden

where the liberal Salad Jacker operates.

[Trillo]

13. What's the matter with those parents?

Unlike those school-room staged-events where police officers visit the classroom and pretend they're really nice: the kids got a dose of reality. Now some kids will know something is wrong when the teacher tells them in the U.S.A. you're innocent until proven guilty. Heck, the teacher might need to set out a little punishment or manipulation of their own as some students cackle in contempt. What's wrong with those parents? Don't they want their children to know that the police really are the meanest gang in town?

[KyndCulture]

14. You can't make this shit up..... shoot him he's got a bean sprout! nt

[CoffeeCat]

15. Headline: "Man Beaten For Salad Stealing--Is Now A Vegetable." (nt)

[Johonny]

16. Maybe

it's the start of some new fad diet?

[warrior1]

17. I'm voting this one

on the greatest for just the title alone. I need two more.

[sleipnir]

18. New Rule: Cops must get Tasered themselves before carrying said weapon

Almost all police training involves the officer being sprayed with pepper spray, for a couple reasons. To accustom them to the pain should they be sprayed in the line of duty and to know the ramifications of spraying others.

I say now, that if a cop is allowed to carry a Taser, they should be shocked by the thing to know how it feels. Hell, it will also act as a decent measure for how healthy the officer is. If they can't take a Taser without medical complications, they probably shouldn't be on patrol.

[immoderate]

33. It's already done.

I have done some training work for the Miami-Dade police. I had a conversation with a Sargent who declined the Taser training because she would have had to submit to being "tased." She said, "I'll let my boys do it."

--IMM

[TroubleMan]

20. Good lord....just think what they'd do to The Hamburgler

[Hardrada]

21. I always suspected there was a Salad Bar Police.

Now I might not even go back for more celery. Maybe for another Caesar salad but anything less is not worth the risk!

[WillieWoohah]

23. Scratch a Salad Bar Policeman and there's a Soup Nazi underneath

[Straight Shooter]

24. It's like any new toy in the hands of an authority figure.

"To serve and protect" is just a slogan to some cops. They can't wait to see what that fancy new Taser weapon will do to the jerkwad who refuses to obey. I'm not saying all cops, I'm saying those who have a problem with handling the authority they're granted by the law.

We've been hearing a lot of Taser stories lately. What's going on? :shrug:

[stevedeshazer]

25. I agree

There have been lots of local news articles about cops trying out their new tasers on each other. It's just like opening up your toolbox and choosing the newest, coolest tool even if you didn't need that sledgehammer just to drive a finishing nail.

[mcscajun]

72. "when all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail"

That's what's going on.

They've been given a "non-lethal" weapon (that point is still being debated) and they show increasing willingness to use it when other methods of restraint (or even talking!) might work as well. No muss, no fuss, just Taser the bastard.

It's pathetic.

[More Than A Feeling]

27. He took the last breadstick! That bastard! n/t

[JunkYardDogg]

28. New Way to Get Your Salad Tossed

To Quote that Famous Philosopher, Rick Flair:

WHOOO !!!

[Illinois_Dem]

32. There has to be more to this story.

The article is unsatisfyingly scant on details. Something more just has to have occurred, for this to make sense. I can't see a cop using a tazer on someone who wasn't fighting, struggling or threatening in some manner. Sorry, but this doesn't add up.

[immoderate]

34. Read the news.

Down here in Florida cops have used Tasers on children as young as six. How dangerous could they be?

--IMM

[Illinois_Dem]

35. I'm not defending the police, neccessarily.

I'm just saying that there must be more to this story. Is there a followup story?

:hi:

[immoderate]

36. Not trying to pigeon hole you.

And I haven't followed this story, specifically. Just wanted to let you know that there have been several questionable uses of the Taser on young children.

I'm sure we'll agree that cops are necessary and have a tough job. But that job does hold an attraction for just the people who shouldn't have it.

And of course, welcome to DU.:hi:

--IMM

[Illinois_Dem]

38. Thanks!

Yours is the second nice welcome I've gotten today. Glad I logged on.

:hi:

[immoderate]

39. I'm nice most of the time.

And if I forget, I hope you'll remind me. Glad you are with us.

--IMM

[DefenseLawyer]

40. Why do you think there MUST be more to this story?

But you are right, I am sure once the officers get their stories straight and write a report there will be much more to the story. And I am sure that an FOP spokesman has already gone on TV and reminded us that cops put their lives on the line every day and it is a tough job and he might have even thrown 9/11 in there for good measure. If you dare criticize some bozo cop instead of just saying yeah, that was uncalled for, they spin it like a top and accuse you of hating cops for even questioning what is obviously questionable behavior. It does a disservice to the many honest, reasonable cops out there and it perpetuates the "ends justifies the means" rationalizations that are used to defend this kind of behavior. Sure there might be more to the story, but then again maybe it was just an idiot cop.

[Padraig18]

44. It's reasonable to assume that there's 'more to the story'

I wasn't there, so like everyone else who wasn't there, I don't know what happened. That said, there's a rather large 'gap' in information in the story itself. Did the cops just walk in the door and IMMEDIATELY taser the salad bar guy? Did the salad bar guy resist arrest after they had interviewed him and the management? Had he been combatative prior to the time the officers arived? Had he been drinking?

Those are all questions that can't be answered, on the basis of the information provided, and they're perfectly reasonable questions.

[Susang]

45. Some other questions

Did the restaurant management handle the situation properly beforehand or did they accuse and anger the patron? Did the police embarrass and humiliate this man in front of his children?

Yes, there are a lot of gaps in the story. I find it quite telling that the manager of the restaurant has retained a lawyer. The company that employs him should be covering that. I've worked for dozens of companies and even been involved in lawsuits. I've never had to retain my own attorney. Something is very wrong here.

[Padraig18]

47. No disagreement, SusanG.

I was just illustrating that the article leaves much to be desired, in terms of the 'gory details' about what exactly did transpire.

:)

[Susang]

52. I agree, it is pretty vague

I'm mostly mad at the restaurant itself. I can't believe they let a salad bar incident escalate to that level. How ridiculous. In all of the years I worked in restaurants, the one thing we always tried to avoid was calling the police to the restaurant unless we absolutely needed them for an emergency. I do not classify a salad bar theft as an emergency. ;-)

[Padraig18]

55. Very poor management skills, I suspect.

I've worked in restaurants and as a bartender off and on since high school, and in all those years I can only think of one time where it became neccessary to call the police. My gut instinct tells me that management allowed this to escalate all out of proportion and then called the police when they could no longer deal with the messy scene they'd helped create.

[Susang]

70. That's what I suspected myself

They probably confronted him in front of his family and instead of handling it with tact and finesse, probably used threats and intimidation. Calling the police over something so insignificant, particularly when he was alone with his children was really overreacting.

Hell, for all we know, the guy might have even paid for the salad bar. All the article is saying is that he couldn't produce proof that he'd paid. Sounds to me like he's claiming that he had paid for it and that they're saying that they don't believe that he did. I don't know what school of management they got him from, but when I've managed restaurants, unless it's a ridiculously expensive item we're talking about here, we always would eat the cost of it to make the customers happy. It was just good business.

[slaveplanet]

49. You must be a newbie

Judging by your post, you couldn't be more wrong. google: force continuum



welcome

[Stirk]

37. Do you know what I love about this place?

Not just DU, actually... any liberal group. They're always willing- or even anxious- to stand up and question authority. If there is such a thing as "American spirit", that's what it is.

I cringe every time I see some self-proclaimed conservative Super Patriot defending police abuse, or the PATRIOT Act, or government secrecy, or official truth of any kind. People who love authority, and obedience as a virtue, in other words.

[Flammable Materials]

50. Excessive force?

At least they didn't put him in an artichoke hold.

rimshot

[MadHound]

56. This is wrong in so many ways

The inability of the manager to handle this situation, the gratuitous use of a potentialy lethal weapon, and the fact that a Taser was shot in the immediate vicinity of innocent bystanders, including children. What if the cop missed and hit the kid instead?

Just more evidence that police officers no longer consider themselves to be public servants. Instead they think that they are the wardens of an outdoor prison.

[Padraig18]

57. That's a lot of conclusions based on damned few facts, frankly.

A whole lot of assumptions, don't ya think, MadHound?

[MadHound]

59. Let's see friend,

The manager decided to call the cops over a possible five dollar theft of the salad bar. Most restraunt managers I know would have let him have the salad, but never let the guy back in the door. The restraunt would have lost like maybe a buck in costs at the most, and they probably throw away ten times that when they shut down at night. But no, the manager was out to make a point apparently, and just got the restraunt some real bad publicity.

The witnesses state that the suspect never touched a police officer, yet the cops feel free to push this guy around, down, and then taser him. A little excessive don't you think, especially as both the public and police across the land are starting to hear reports of how lethal a Taser is to some people.

Then there is this: "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."

Sorry, but it sounds like from what the witness is saying that the police were endangering innocent bystanders. This fellow was unarmed, wasn't physically threatening them, so why resort to such over the top tactics. Anybody who deals with guns or other projectile weapons learns the first rule of such weapons, don't point it in the direction of innocent bystanders. Yet here was this officer, shooting in the direction of a closely positioned group of people that included a baby for heaven's sake! C'mon, are you actually going to tell me that such actions are responsible use of a potentially lethal weapon?

Like I said before, just another symptom of how our police forces' attitude has degenerated from being public servants to wardens at an outdoor prison.

[Padraig18]

60. Actually, the witnesses DIDN'T say that the suspect never touched a police

..officer, at least not in the linked article. I think that might be an important detail to know before I reached any grand, sweeping conclusions about what had occured, don't you?

[MadHound]

61. From further upthread

""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" <http://www.kirotv.com/news/4245190/detail.html>

Sounds like an arguement of words, at least until the officer decided he didn't want to talk anymore.

[Padraig18]

62. What do the other witnesses say?

Do we absolutely know beyond a shadow of a doubt that at no time did this guy struggle with or fight the officer, like when the officer put him under arrest?

:shrug:

[MadHound]

66. I guess that we'll find out in court

But this is certainly damning testimony from the witness closest to the scene.

[Padraig18]

69. Exactly.

I'm neither defending nor damning anyone involved; I'm just suggesting that there's a lot we still don't know about what occurred.

:)

[bigtree]

58. I'd pay for his salad

sad stuff

[newportdadde]

63. Was watching COPS the other day and two officers wanted to talk to

this asian guy around 20 years old he was holding back the screen door on them so they pushed him back into the porch and opened it and immediately tasered him. Seems like all they do anymore is use those things all the time, hell 5 years ago they just would have subdued him physically.

I do wish i had bought tasr stock when it went public, something like 1k in is worth or was worth 200k.

[rniel]

64. duplicate post

.

[rniel]

65. I thought this had to be a joke

But it gets to where nothing surprises me anymore.

I'll note this under one of my examples on how this country is turning to facism.

[redqueen]

68. When will the sleeping public wake up?

:wow:

[troubleinwinter]

71. Amazing. A father at Chuck E Cheese with his two

children, ages 3 and 7, having a salad. Not like he came in brandishing a gun and threatening patrons.

What ever happened to "Sir, there is an extra charge for the salad bar. I will add it to your bill. Enjoy your time here at Chuck E. Cheese!"

[Blue_Tires]

73. he had it coming!!!

i think he's the bully that stole all my tokens as a kid!! (j/k)

[uppityperson]

74. what a choice, lose $5 for a salad or several customers forever?

OK, write Chuckecheeses off my restaurant list.

[CornField]

75. Those veggies can cause gas! No doubt if the officers took him down

they'd been hit with flatulence. It was safer to stand at a distance and use the taser.

[Bark Bark Bark]

76. So...Anybody Wanna Trot Out The Old Line?

You know, THIS one: "Well, at least the cop didn't shoot him! At least he's still alive!!"

...Nobody? C'mon, I used to read that one all the time in threads like this. 'Course, since then, we've HAD a couple of deaths from Tazering, and the stories about small children getting "subdued" with an electrical charge are piling up fast.

"Are we having FASCISM yet?"
--Zippy

Christ, check THIS one out:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=224x399