Woman Was Brutalized at Store, Suit Alleges

A 45-year-old Mexican pediatrician filed a $10-million lawsuit Thursday against the Marshalls department store chain alleging that she was brutalized by a security guard who believed she was trying to steal an $8 wallet from the company’s Torrance store.

Olga Veronica Flores, chief of pediatrics at the Hospital Infantil de Mexico, suffered humiliation, emotional distress and a fractured right wrist during the Feb. 23 confrontation at the Del Amo Fashion Center, according to the suit. She alleges that the security guard detained, threatened and battered her for nearly an hour.

“There was no reason to detain her except that she fit their profile of a shoplifter--she spoke Spanish, appeared to be from Mexico and was a female,” Flores’ attorney, Larry Nagelberg, told a news conference. “She is a victim of racial and gender profiling.”

Flores sued under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on race. Her suit alleges that the Torrance store engaged in an “unreasonable and unlawful categorization of customers.” She also has filed claims alleging false imprisonment and assault and battery.

Two Torrance store employees--a security guard identified only as Ericka and store supervisor Fernando Diaz--are named as defendants.

Store and corporate representatives of Massachusetts-based Marshalls Inc. would not comment, and the employees could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Flores, who does not speak English, cried as she recounted her story through an interpreter.

She said she had purchased a wallet for $8.60 before leaving the store with her relatives. Then, she said, a woman in blue jeans and a white T-shirt grabbed her from behind. Flores said she thought she was being robbed and did not realize the woman, Ericka, was a security guard who had followed her out of the store.

Flores pleaded with Ericka in Spanish, but the guard refused to answer, “although later Ericka demonstrated to plaintiff she was fluent in Spanish,” the suit says.

Instead, the security guard dragged Flores back into the store by the arm, confining her in an office where she sat handcuffed. Flores’ sister and two young nephews were not allowed to see her and “cried in shock and bewilderment” at the treatment, the suit alleges.

In the office, the guard pushed, battered and insulted Flores in Spanish, calling her an “idiot” and describing her as an illegal immigrant of “low moral character” who stole wallets, the suit says.

After Flores produced a receipt for the wallet, the guard accused her of switching price tags to save 60 cents on the purchase. When that accusation was proved false, Flores was released and given a refund. The wallet and the receipt were kept by the guard.

The suit claims that Diaz witnessed the guard’s treatment of Flores but failed to stop it.

“Psychologically, I feel bad,” said Flores, a mother of three. “A great injustice has happened to me . . . but I’m going to recuperate.” She had a cast on her right hand.

Flores is a respected pediatrician at one of the largest children’s hospitals in Latin America, her attorney said. She frequently travels between Mexico City and Los Angeles to visit relatives.