Court Opinion

ID: 9787283
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 00:14:12.090752+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:54.238864
License: Public Domain

JOPLIN, V.C.J.,
dissents:
T10 I dissent. In the present case, the store security guard attested that he observed Plaintiff in a vacant aisle, checking behind her, and placing the packages of cigarettes in her purse from the shopping cart in which her children were sitting. However, the security guard did not witness Plaintiff taking the cigarettes from a store shelf and placing them in her purse, a fact which the materials suggest the guard may or may not have revealed to the City attorney before filing (or refiling) of the criminal charges. Moreover, Plaintiff claimed that she purchased the cigarettes from Store and elsewhere several days earlier, that she simply put the cigarettes in her purse along with numerous other items, and that the guard merely observed her replacing the cigarettes in her purse after her children spilled them out. Given these facts, I believe reasonable people might differ on whether the guard had probable cause to detain Plaintiffs. I would consequently hold the order of the trial court granting Defendant's motion for summary judgment should be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings.