Several people have asked what I think of this story, which has been all over the Digg and Reddit boards of late.

I admire the guy’s spunk, and agree that he should be under no obligation to show his driver’s license (and it looks like Ohio law says he doesn’t have to, even though the Supreme Court recently (and regrettably) ruled that state laws requiring us to produce ID are constitutional). And certainly the cop’s at fault for charging the guy with a BS cover-all charge that’s really unrelated to anything the guy actually did.

Still, at risk of (gasp!) defending a big corporation, most of us by now understand that when you shop at Circuit City or Best Buy, you’re obliged to show your bag and receipt to the security guards at the door when you leave the store. I don’t know what Ohio law is on this, so maybe the guy’s covered there. I’m only saying what I think the law ought to be. If stores like Circuit City make clear that when you step onto their property, you agree to have your bags searched when you leave, then those are the conditions you agree to when you enter. Don’t like it? Then shop elsewhere.

If you agree to those conditions when you enter, implicitly or otherwise, then violate them when you leave, don’t complain when you’re then under suspicion for shoplifting.

The store’s decision to forcibly detain him is more troubling. I’d rather see them take down his license plate and contact the police. The police could then ask to search his bag. Seems to me that violating the terms under which Circuit City allows you to shop at its stores is sufficient probable cause to suspect shoplifting.

The guy’s wrong to think he can walk onto someone else’s private property, violate the terms he agreed to when he did so, then expect to leave without being confronted. But I don’t think Circuit City handled the situation very well, either. And in arresting and charging the guy with a bogus crime, the police officer certainly overreacted.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 at 3:49 pm by admin and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.