Pregnant moms says sandwich arrest was horrifying

M V · Post by **M V** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 3:33 am

I saw this news story in this post.

Pregnant mom says sandwich arrest was 'horrifying'

[QUOTE]HONOLULU — Nicole Leszczynski couldn't imagine that two chicken salad sandwiches would land her and her husband in jail and her 2-year-old daughter in state custody. But it happened five days ago, when the 30-weeks-pregnant woman forgot to pay for her snack while shopping.

Leszczynski, 28, and her husband Marcin, 33, were handcuffed, searched then released on $50 bail each. Their ordeal at the police station lasted a few hours, but their daughter Zofia spent the night away from her parents in a case that has sparked nationwide outrage and forced the Safeway supermarket chain to review the incident.

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Was what happened to the woman and her family horrifying and Safeway wrong in what its employees did or do the following reader comments have a point:

[QUOTE]I have seen this multiple times. ITS A STORE DONT OPEN THE ITEMS UNTIL YOU PAY FOR THEM. Stupid does as stupid is.
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How typical, Take an item,open it, consume it as you walk around the store then forget to pay for it. You see this all the time. it's called stealing. The Safeway might not have known it would result in the little girl being taken to child services but they have to prosucute shoplifters to the fullest extent of the law. Stealing just drives prices up for all consumers.Word of advice pay your own way in the world.

I feel sorry for the woman and hope Safeway makes it up to her. If she were not pregnant, I might have felt differently.

layman · Post by **layman** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 3:46 am

I have a different take on this.
Was there a crime committed?
Yes.
Did the law enforcement/management violate any laws?
No

Well then.....

Trust me, the amount of shop lifting and stealing that goes on is a lot. Unless, there is solid proof the management cannot touch a customer. Customer takes clothes to fitting room and when they come out some clothes are missing. Guess what? Management cannot do anything about it. Management does not have the right to touch the customer. If a camera records proof that cloth was taken by the customer, the management can atleast report to the police. But, if there is no recorded proof, management has to keep its mouth shut even if it knows that the customer is stealing.

Desi · Post by **Desi** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:05 am

USA is like that only. She should be glad she did not get shot. According to some, women like her (unarmed) often get shot in USA and that too by police.

As for me, feel sorry for the young one separated from her mother to strangers, the woman needed to be punished. Forgot to pay is an excuse.

I know a desi lady around here since many years, and just last week, one acquaintance told me that she is in jail and I asked why and he told me shoplifting, I googled and found her mugshot and found that she was denied bail (maybe immigration issues, I don't know), but this is the lady that you find at functions co-ordinating religous discourses, and teaching children morals (she had asked for my daughter's help in one of these little children's functions).

Another one that I have become aware about is that during Diwali functions, people take food from the restaurant buffet tables and stuff their bags. The restaurants have video monitors and this was communicated to function organizers just this last Diwali function around here. I heard of it last year also at the function.

realgoogler · Post by **realgoogler** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:15 am

Reminds me of incident when my son was 2 years and I was shopping in Indian Grocery store with him. He was crazy about tomatoes then. As i I was picking veggies with him in my arms he grabbed a tomato and started eating it. I realized that only when he was half finished. Sort of embarassed, When I went to billing that I told my son ate a tomato so that he can bill for that. He was like "you did not eat anything right.. then its ok".

Not sure what would have happened if it was Safeway :)

May be this should be in "My Kid did this... thread".

samv · Post by **samv** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:18 am

The relevant questions to ask are,

(a) Was some one arrested for a real cause? (no matter how trivial)? (yes)
(b) Did authorities respect rights of the person arrested and follow due-process? (I see no reason to suspect otherwise)
(c) Was the law enforcement polite and respectful? (I see no reason to suspect otherwise)
(d) Did the system keep them any longer in detention than it needed to? (Doesn't look like it did.)
(e) Was the child in safe hands? (no one alleges that the child was unsafe/traumatised.)
(f) Were the parent traumatized? (yes- but that is the point of this whole exercise.)
(g) Is Safeway policy to demand prosecution stupid? (yes. The manager should have had some leeway and safeway has said that they will review the policy.)
(h) Should police stop detaining alleged shoplifters reported to them? (absolutely not. Otherwise it will become socially acceptable in no time. See Broken Window Theory. )

suyog · Post by **suyog** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:49 am

What about when the shops overcharge? aren't they stealing money from us? I have caught number of mistakes in the receipts specially from Indian grocery stores. I even caught owner of a famous Indian grocery shop in bay area, who when complained of expired shrikhand, took it inside removed the expiry date stickers and restocked the exact same cartons!! I heard the same goes with egg cartons in American grocery stores.

realgoogler · Post by **realgoogler** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:56 am

Desi;421146
As for me, feel sorry for the young one separated from her mother to strangers, the woman needed to be punished. Forgot to pay is an excuse.

Why do you think "forgot" to pay is just an excuse ? What if she really forgot. She had carried the box with her for billing. I think Store should establish willfullness before proceeding to prosecution..
I think the ordeal is too much for the crime considering the circumstances.

r2k · Post by **r2k** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 6:21 am

My guess is that lady and her family is going to be richer pretty soon. I am sure Safeway will like people to forget about this faster and will end up spending some money to keep her mouth shut.

Guntur · Post by **Guntur** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 6:50 am

suyog;421152What about when the shops overcharge? aren't they stealing money from us? I have caught number of mistakes in the receipts specially from Indian grocery stores. I even caught owner of a famous Indian grocery shop in bay area, who when complained of expired shrikhand, took it inside removed the expiry date stickers and restocked the exact same cartons!! I heard the same goes with egg cartons in American grocery stores.

New India Bazar in Milpitas is famous for this kind of activities. I experienced this thrice and stopped going there.

M V · Post by **M V** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 8:04 am

r2k;421184My guess is that lady and her family is going to be richer pretty soon. I am sure Safeway will like people to forget about this faster and will end up spending some money to keep her mouth shut.

Most likely! Either Safeway will spend money to keep her mouth shut or tv talk shows will so she talks.

Even if Safeway and the police did follow all the rules, the lady is going to be rich one way or the other.