Harassment by Queens Pizza Store Employee

amother

↑ Navy ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 7:16 am

amother Violet wrote:

That's not the legal definition of harassment. And intimidation is way subjective. Not saying what he did was right but the police would laugh at this once they turned their backs.

No they wouldn’t. In today’s day and age this is not considered acceptable behavior.

amother

Diamond

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 7:58 am

amother Violet wrote:

That's not the legal definition of harassment. And intimidation is way subjective. Not saying what he did was right but the police would laugh at this once they turned their backs.

I think they would definitely take it seriously. A grown man followed two minor girls and intimidated them into showing him their phone. That is not legal, safe, or normal behavior.

(Taking pictures of anyone in a public place is legal, by the way.)

amother

Tomato ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:06 am

amother Tangerine wrote:

it is not illegal to take pictures in a pizza shop.
full stop.
what on earth...
all the more so nowadays we have people videotaping everything and anything everywhere
clips going viral

can we kindly stay on topic

what is so challenging here

It is actually the precise topic. It is definitely not illegal to take pictures of someone in a public place like the street. A pizza shop is privately owned. I'm not sure if it's permitted or not. Are you?

The second and more important issue is whether this is a police matter. It sounds like the employee was rude. But I don't think he did anything illegal.

He followed the family out of the store and asked to see the phone. Again, very rude but nothing illegal. Did he touch her? Did he make threats? Did he forcibly take the phone? What exactly is the claim to the police? That the guy asked to see the phone without first saying please?

amother

↑ Tomato ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:14 am

amother DarkViolet wrote:

Because it's illegal to harass and intimidate people. OP can educate her daughters to tell him to leave them alone and if he doesn't they can call the police.

The question is where is the line that was crossed to call this harassment and intimidation?

Let's assume the guy thought (mistakenly) that they were taking pictures of him. Why is approaching the person and asking that they delete the pics intimidation and harassment? He would say it was a polite request.

amother

Nasturtium ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:35 am

Just to clarify, he was not taking pictures of your child, but rather he was worried that your child had taken pictures of him.

Last week, someone here, thought that someone took their picture, and everybody was up in arms and thought she should basically break that other person’s phone/camera.

amother

↑ Navy ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:39 am

amother Tomato wrote:

He would approach the adult. Not follow the minors until the adult is busy and then intimidate them.

amother

↑ Tomato ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:42 am

amother Navy wrote:

Police aren’t in charge of laws. That’s for the court. They are there to write up incident reports and investigate.

There has to be a starting point to investigate. If the claim is that....he followed us out of the store and asked to see our phones to see if we took pics of him, then there's clearly nothing to investigate.

He didn't yell, scream, touch, threaten, make a scene, or anything. He asked to see their phones.

Would I be upset if that happened to my daughter? Yes! Is it a police matter? Not even close.

amother

↑ Tomato ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:45 am

amother Navy wrote:

He would approach the adult. Not follow the minors until the adult is busy and then intimidate them.

Sounds like a good idea. But the question now is whether asking a minor to see their phone crosses the line of harassment and intimidation and becomes a legal matter. Sounds completely ridiculous to me.

amother

↑ Navy ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:45 am

amother Tomato wrote:

You are majorly misinformed. Any time you feel someone intimidated you it is a police matter. Sounds like you just want to protect the illegal worker. Male adults can’t follow female minors, actually an adult ever talking to a minor can be problematic. It is very much a police matter.

amother

↑ Birch ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:46 am

amother Navy wrote:

Police aren’t in charge of laws. That’s for the court. They are there to write up incident reports and investigate.

Police don't make the laws, but they are responsible for enforcing the laws. They cannot write reports for someone not breaking the law. There needs to be a law being violated for a ticket to be written. Police can't just write tickets and violations based on someone's discomfort with a situation.

amother

↑ Navy ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:47 am

amother Tomato wrote:

It’s completely ridiculous to be so concerned over some male illegal worker. And why are you so concerned if the police determine it’s not a matter for them they will say so. The bending over backwards to protect this guy is nauseating.

amother

↑ Tomato ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:47 am

amother OP wrote:

I am so freaked out. My family is visiting in Queens. My children went with an adult to eat out at Benji’s. They had a good time and took pictures there. When they were done eating, they crossed the street to Wasserman's. As they were crossing the street, my teenage daughter noticed that the worker from behind the counter at Benji's was following them. While they were in Wasserman’s, the worker from Benji’s waited until the adult with them was busy on a cellphone and then approached my teenage daughter and asked if she took pictures of him. She said she was scared and the man looked strange and she told him no. He demanded to see her phone and he scrolled through her pictures to see. Then he asked another one of my teenage daughters for her phone, but she doesn’t have one, she had been using the adult’s phone in the pizza store, so the man assumed she also had a phone. Finally, he left. (Yes, I’m upset with the adult for not paying attention to what was going on and at the kids for not going to the adult they were with while this was happening.) I don’t live here, is there anyone who does and has heard of anything like this happening? I was worried before I came here that NY was not safe, now I’m really scared. I feel like now I can’t let my kids who are teenagers go anywhere without tight supervision.

Op, what does the bolded mean? "Waited until the adult was busy on their cellphone"? I don't get this. He bh wasn't trying to kidnap them. The adult was standing right next to them. So the adult was on their phone and didn't see what happened? This doesn't make sense to me.

amother

↑ Birch ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:47 am

amother Navy wrote:

There is nothing.illegal about an adult talking to a minor. It's just not true.

amother

↑ Slateblue ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:48 am

amother Tomato wrote:

How about the fact that he followed the girls? He didn't talk to them while they were still in the store, he didn't talk to the adults with them while they were in the store, he didn't shout after them as they were leaving - he followed behind them, crossed a large street, walked about a third of a block, followed them into another store, and then talked to them (as opposed to the adult with them) when that adult was distracted.

What's the old law quote - something about I may not be able to define [filth] but I know it when I see it? So, yeah, I hear what others are saying, about trying to figure out what law he broke, but something seems off here, off enough that I'd want a legal entity involved.

amother

↑ Navy ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 8:49 am

amother Birch wrote:

Actually they are required to write a report every time they are called. Even if it says matter wasn’t a police matter. In this case I have no doubt they will take down all the names and speak to the guy. Anything with minors is taken very seriously. I have personal experience with ny.