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Mar 24, 2008 11:20 pm US/Central
NorthPark Apologizes For Wrongful Detention
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
An upscale Dallas mall is apologizing to four Hispanic teenagers who were falsely accused of shoplifting. The teens met administrators from NorthPark Center Monday.
"If it is procedure to handcuff somebody in front of thousands of people, an apology would be acceptable," said Lucio Narvaez, one of the four teens.
The four say they were humiliated Friday night when mall security kept them handcuffed in front of shoppers for nearly 20 minutes.
As it turns out, they were wrongfully accused of stealing sunglasses. NorthPark center said that accusation came from a lone employee at a shop called Solstice.
In a written statement, a representative for the mall said "the four individuals were detained because the store employee told NorthPark security it was a confirmed theft. The individuals were handcuffed in accordance with standard security procedures."
"If this is procedure, then they need to review the procedures and change them to be more sensitive toward young people and minorities because this could a pattern," said Alex Castillo, parent of one of the accused teens. "We don't know how big the problem is."
NorthPark said it was given bad information, thus laying the blame with the store employee. But the families claim it's blatant discrimination against Hispanics.
Austin Smith agrees. Smith said he too was wrongfully accused last week of stealing. Smith said he was handcuffed in the mall parking lot for 20 minutes.
"Instead of coming out and telling me that they made a mistake and they were sorry for it, they didn't even do that," said Smith. "They simply said, 'You are free to go for now and an investigator will be in touch with you.' I haven't heard anything since."
NorthPark said the store in question will apologize to the four teens and the mall will review its procedures when responding to reports of theft.
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