Columbia MO Jan 27 2013 A 15-year-old boy said a family shopping trip to Columbia Mall ended with him lying facedown on the parking lot pavement, bound by handcuffs and straddled by mall security guards.
Matthew Peek has been banned for three years from the mall for “trespassing” after he was observed on mall property after he had been warned once not to be on the premises without parental supervision.
Matthew Peek has been banned for three years from the mall for “trespassing” after he was observed on mall property after he had been warned once not to be on the premises without parental supervision.
The dispute began shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday, Matthew said, when he walked out of the mall’s main entrance near the food court to place shopping bags inside the family car. When he went back inside the mall, he and his girlfriend said they were approached by a mall security guard who cited mall policy that youths 16 and younger must be accompanied by an adult after 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Matthew acknowledged he was unfriendly with the guard, saying he was shopping with his mother and added: “Why don’t you leave me alone?”
The security guard escorted Matthew to Target and imposed a 24-hour ban on the teen from returning to the mall for being “disrespectful.” He told him that if he returned during that time, he’d be arrested for trespassing.
Matthew, a Hickman High School student, said he only understood the ban to apply if he was unattended. So when he met back up with his mother and sister, he continued shopping.
About 10 to 30 minutes later, the same security guard spotted Matthew near the Pretzel Time store and ordered him out of the building. Matthew said he began to comply with the order, walking out with the security guard trailing him through the J.C. Penney store.
“When we got to the entrance of J.C. Penney’s, I thought this was the end,” Matthew said. “But he said, ‘No, we’re escorting you to the car, and we’re going to watch you leave.’ ”
Matthew said he told the guard he was 15 and didn’t have a driver’s license. And he continued walking along the sidewalk, apparently making two trailing security guards increasingly angry. Matthew said one of the men yelled: “You are trespassing right now” and ordered him to “put your hands behind your back.”
A third security guard arrived in a Jeep.
Matthew said he was trying to comply with the orders when he was pushed to the ground, landing first on his knees and then on his face. The security guard “kept yelling, ‘Stop resisting,’ ” Matthew said. “He yelled in my face, and spit flew in my face because he was yelling so loud. I wasn’t resisting at all.”
Matthew was handcuffed, driven to a holding room in Dillard’s and later released to the custody of Mullins.
Mullins and Matthew said the mall officers told them they planned to press charges for trespassing and resisting arrest.
Columbia police spokeswoman Jessie Haden said mall security told police that Matthew “puffed up on them, behaving aggressively” when security tried to arrest him, obliging them to use force. A police officer dispatched to the mall called a juvenile officer, who authorized Matthew’s release to his parents. Haden said the case would be handled through the juvenile system if the mall presses charges.
Mall General Manager Janet Henderson declined to discuss the incident. Mall security Supervisor John Fields did not return a call.
Mullins believes his son was “profiled” because he was wearing hip-hop clothing, including a puffy jacket and a straight-billed cap backward.
“I was just really embarrassed and scared because my girlfriend was right there,” Matthew said. “I wasn’t expecting it. I was expecting to get taken to my car but not to get thrown to the ground and handcuffed.”
Source-Columbia Daily Tribune
Source-Columbia Daily Tribune