Mall Security Guards Suspended After Punching Teen on Video
Published at | Updated at
iStock/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) — A cellphone video that’s burning up the Internet Friday morning has led to the suspensions of three security guards seen repeatedly punching a shirtless 15-year-old boy outside the Stonecrest Mall south of Atlanta.
Witnesses say the guards were trying to get a group of underage kids to leave. Mall policy says someone has to be 18 to remain on the property without a parent. But the girl who shot the video, who’s avoiding cameras, told police that one of the guards swung first.
The boy’s mother, Chavella Hamm, 45, and her lawyer are furious.
“I was horrified, I was scared,” Hamm said. “I was at another store … across the street from the mall, and I got a phone call on my phone, and it was my son, hysterical, screaming, ‘Ma, come help me.'”
They went to court Thursday and filed documents demanding that police arrest the security guards for “battery and visible harm.” They were granted a hearing next month, where they plan to show a judge the video.
“They should not be allowed to continuing working as security officers,” said Hamm’s lawyer, Mawuli Mel Davis. “But even more importantly, they should be arrested and prosecuted as criminals.”
In a statement, the mall said that guards work for Securitas USA, a “third-party company” that “is currently working with the DeKalb Police Department while this incident is under investigation.”
“The security officers have been suspended without pay and will no longer work on site at the shopping center,” the Mall at Stonecrest said in its statement. “With this being an ongoing investigation, we are unable to provide any additional information at this time.”
Securitas USA did not respond to a request for comment.
The boy’s mother said he’s recovering from a gash near his eye and wounds to his back and arms.
“What those three men did, it could have turned out even worse,” Hamm said. “But my baby came home. What’s to say someone else’s baby won’t come home. … And I want something done about this. This will be dealt with.”
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.