A city alderman from Berwyn, Ill. was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after a scuffle with Walmart security guards who tried to detain him for refusing to show his receipt at the door, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Stores can request to see customers’ receipts or inspect their bags, but the checks are voluntary — the instant money changes hands, merchandise becomes the buyer’s personal property. Employees and security guards cannot detain someone simply for refusing to show his or her receipt.
Depending on your state of residence, merchants have to meet the legal standard of “probable cause” or “reasonable suspicion” before detaining someone suspected of shoplifting.
Alderman Michael Phelan’s court date on the disorderly conduct charge has been continued to Nov. 5, according to the Tribune. Free speech watchdogs regard disorderly conduct as an extremely slippery charge, as it’s often been misused to punish protected speech. In this case, it’s being misused to punish a man who tried to escape an illegal detention.
In North Carolina, someone who detains another person without legal authority can be charged with and successfully prosecuted for kidnapping. Perhaps Illinois has less stringent statutes, but even in the states least protective of personal property rights, store security guards don’t have carte blanche to detain you, search you or frog-march you back to the security office for interrogation.
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