ON AUGUST 21,2015:I HAD A VERY UPSETTING & HORRIFIC EXPERIENCE AT the
7-ELEVEN AT BATAVIA & CHAPMAN in the CITY OF ORANGE CALIFORNIA. I was
ASSAULTED by a 7-ELEVEN EMPLOYEE, and my CELL-PHONE was STOLEN & DESTROYED
by a friend or associate of the 7-ELEVEN EMPLOYEE with ASSISTANCE of the
7-ELEVEN EMPLOYEE. I was also VERBALLY ABUSED by the EMPLOYEE & his FRIEND,
with the APPARENT INTENTION OF INFLICTING EMOTIONAL.DISTRESS,&.I remain EMOTIONALLY & MENTALLY
DISTRESSED…
Dated this 1st day of September, 2015
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
ON AUGUST 21, 2015 at almost 6:00am (pst) exactly, I
entered the 7-eleven convenience store at the intersection of Batavia &
Chapman in the city of Orange, California . I rarely go to this 7-eleven and
can only remember being there maybe once or twice previously in the last few
years. However, I had been there twice the day before, On August 20, the first
time I entered I was on the way to an event called TedX at Chapman College ,
and wanted to get some “cash back” . So I picked out a few bags of sunflower
seeds priced at “2 for one dollar” and placed them on the counter as I pulled
out my debit card. The guy behind the counter said “Just to let you know if you
are planning to get cash back, there is a $2 minimum.” I had never heard of
such a police at any other 7-eleven before, so I was a bit surprised and asked
“why?” .
On August 20, the clerk
(apparently his name is Noah) began to tell me something about Frito-Lay
…about the mark-up, or something like that…apparently trying to express that
there is not much profit from the sale of Frito-lay, and then he also added
something about the new “minimum wage” increase in the state of California …in
general apparently trying to express to me that this 7-eleven store was
experiencing tough times and was trying to save money by limiting the use of
debit or credit cards for cash-back transactions. He also wanted me to know he
was the “owner” , or so he claimed. So I left it at that and walked out of the
store, at which point he said in a strange, condescending tone, “Have a nice
day” almost as if I was a child. At 48-years old the way he spoke to me seemed
out-of-place. But I didn’t say anything at the time.
Without cash in hand I went to the
TedX event hoping I could pay for a ticket with my credit card. As it turns
out, however, the event was sold out, so I did not attend. Instead I went to
the nearby Orange Library for a few hours
. Before entering the Orange Library
I called the 7-eleven and thought I was talking to somebody else and told
him I wanted to make a complaint. As it turns out I was talking to the same guy
(Noah , the owner?) and he said, again
in a condescending tone, “Why don’t you go online or something” and hung up.
Instead I call 7-eleven corporate headquarters customer service and tell them
my complaint. They inform me that they will pass it on to the field manager who
will contact me. And they provide a “case number.”
After leaving the library, I was
driving past the same 7-eleven and noticed it was a different clerk inside. I
went back in and grabbed the same two packs of sunflower seeds and made the
purchase from the Indian clerk(?) with
the debit card and got $10 cash back. No questions. No Objections. It was the
same simple transaction I make at 7-elevens on a periodic basis all over
southern California. And I saved the receipt to prove it.
The next morning, back
to August 21,
as I mentioned in the beginning, I was once again in the City of Orange because I had to bring
my vehicle in to Ford of Orange for a safety recall job, and was informed that
if I get there by 7am, chances are they will get to work right away on my
vehicle. I passed by the same 7-eleven
again and decided to go inside one more time to see what they might tell me
this time. Inside, I grabbed two bags of sunflower seeds and put them on the
counter in front of the lady as I pulled out my debit card. She told me “There
is a $2 minimum purchase to use your debit or credit card.” I said, “Why?” And
was thinking to myself, This is the third time I’ve been here in two days and
been given a different policy. She said, “I’m just a volunteer”….and she
proceeded to call over a large bald white guy named Greg. Greg came over and
asked what is the problem. I recited the question, and he said “That’s the policy…end
of conversation.” It barely went beyond this when he told me to leave the
store. All the while, from the moment I entered the store I kept my phone video
camera rolling, just in case something happened. And something, in fact, did
happen. So let me simply provide a copy of the transcript from the video that I
salvaged (after my phone was destroyed), and provide a link to the video online
as well, which can be viewed at the following link:
8/21/15 DID 7-11 WORKER ABUSE ME
b/c HE thought I was GAY ? i'm NOT gay but that shouldn't matter! I was trying
to figure out why this guy treated me so poorly, and called me
"lame", among other things. Is this anti-gay rhetoric?
THIS IS WHAT I POSTED ONLINE,
verbatim:
“warning: graphic language (by
them, not me);
TRANSCRIPT:
volunteer: "greg where's the
sign that says there's a $2 minimum...i'm a volunteer..
BALD RED-SHIRT EMPLOYEE (BR):
anything credit or debit..
ME: who made that up?
BR: that's policy..store policy..do
u want to be served or not..
k sir do u want to be served or
not?
ME: r u the owner?
BR: no, I'm not...i'm the owner,
sole proprietor, operator, I'm security, I'll escort you out...so, get out of
here...
ME: did I do something wrong?
c'mon...
BR: you're being a smartass..
ME: i'm just asking why...get
out...I talked to the owner yesterday , he didn't say that...
BR: [unintelligble...maybe i'll
talk to him too ? "what's he going to do?"
ME:
what's your name?
BR: greg. get out.
ME: ok greg you're on tape.
BR: get out. you're a smart ass
me:
u want to... you're on videotape...u want to hit me, r u going to hit
me?
BR:
get out. no, why would I hit you ?
me: you're acting violent toward
me.
BR: You're a lame. you're a lame.
why would I hit you?
me:
I'm lame? why am I lame?
BR: because you're a lame. you're a
punk.
me: what's that mean? I'm a punk.
BR: what u think you're going to
provoke me? you're a f__k__g moron. yes you are.
me: wow! ok.greg thank you. i'll
talk to noah...
yes I have it on video too.
LATINO GUY(LG):.get out of here
me:u work here too?
LG: i'm from the hood, now get the
F out...get out homie.
me: NO, you don't talk to me that
way.
LG: get out. no. you don't want
trouble.
me: why are you talking to me that
way. I didn't do anything wrong. who r U?
LG:
u don't need to worry about who I am.
me:
u don't like me.
LG: No, I don't. u start s--t...;
just get out.
me: what did I do wrong? no, not
the way you talk to me like that. who is this guy?
LG: get out.
BR: GET out of my establishment.
me: NOW its your establishment?
BR: yeah it is. I'm the one in
charge of it right now.
me:
r u the owner. [he starts walking around toward me again]
LG: I'M telling u bro.
me: u dont scare me man.
LG: the F--k what I do.
me: are you going to hit me? u going to hit me?
BR: Get the F--k out !
me: U just hit me, kicked me with
..i'll wait for the police.
[HE KICKED the CONE AT ME AT 02:40]
BR:
Get the F—k out of our property dude. excuse me, get out.
Get that out of my face.
Me: u just hit me. [at this
point HE INTENTIONALLY
& DELIBERATELY HIT
MY HAND HOLDING THE PHONE,
see 02:45 et seq]
me: i'll wait for the police
BR: wait for the police, get the
F---k outta here. guess who's side they are going to be on u f--k--ng moron.
me: I don't care. i'll wait for the
police.
BR: I asked u to leave. get the
F--k outta here.
me: i can stand here
BR: you're disrupting my business.
this is private property u idiot. get the F--k off it.
me: i'll wait for the police.
BR: You're on private property. get
off
me: i'll wait for the police.
BR: I'll take it as a personal
threat.
me: ok.
LG: [i think he called me a bastard
and a piece of sh-t...more unintelligble
me: what did I do man? I have a
credit card
BR: come inside [talking to the
Latino]. leave this f--k--g out here.
do NOT come in this f--k--g door,
dude,
me: you're on video man. [he slams
open the door hitting me again,03:30]
BR: stay away from my business
me: you're anger is going to get
you in a lot of trouble. I didn't do anything wrong.
BR: u didn't do anything wrong? ur
a smarta-- f--k--g b--tch...
me: I just asked to use my credit
card, and asked why..and
BR: that's not what u said...don't
lie u f--k--g idiot. i told u there's a $2 minimum, [unintelligible &
facial contortions] you're a f--k--g b--tch.
me: you hate me because...
[ AT THIS POINT the LATINO GUY
GRABS MY PHONE from MY HAND]. He will not give it back. He starts walking
around the corner of the store. BR puts his arms out to block me from following
the latino who has my phone. I push my way thru his arm blockade, and follow
the latino around the corner of the store. I keep saying, Give me back my
phone. SUDDENLY HE LIFTS HIS ARM & SMASHES MY PHONE on the CONCRETE as HARD
AS HE CAN. It shatters. I bend down to
pick it up and feel the heat of the two of them near my back as if they are
about to attack me. I turn and run with the
broken cell phone in my hand towards my vehicle. I ask the people in the
donut shop next door to call the police for me. They refuse to do so. They say
I must use the payphone. I pick up the payphone and dial 911 and as i am
talking to the dispatcher I see a police car driving by, but it doesn't seem to
be aware of any incident and doesn't seem intended to pull in to the parking
lot. So I put the payphone down and run towards the police car at batavia &
chapman and flag him down. It's officer Ruelas. He pulls in and I begin to tell
him what happened. Then Officer Silver arrives. [to be continued]” END ONLINE
VERBATIM
At this point, Officer Ruelas goes
inside the store to take down their information and statement. Officer Silver
engages me. I tell him partially what happened and about the Latino guy calling
me homie and punk, and threatening me and finally smashing my phone. Officer Silver tries to argue with me that
“homie” and “punk” are not necessarily derogatory, and is surprised to hear
that I’ve never had anybody call me that before. As we converse I begin to
realize he is trying to make a case against me, rather than be supportive of
me. I don’t know why he would be against me without even knowing all the facts.
He seems to be taking, automatically, the side of the 7-eleven worker et
al. I’m sitting on the curb, still
shaken up, with a shattered phone in my hand. The Latino guy in the red shirt
had walked away prior to the police arriving, but might still be walking down
the street. I ask Silver if they are going to go look for him. I don’t remember
the exact words but they are not convincing me that they plan to do so. He
mentions Bellflower…I think he asked me “You’re from Bellflower?” after looking
at my driver’s license. This leads to another conversation. I tell him, “I’m
not from Bellflower. I grew up in Grand Rapids, MI” He tells me he is from
Lakewood which is near Bellflower. Obviously, he grew up here. I really don’t
know why we are having this conversation, and wish he would take me seriously
about what just happened.
Officer Ruelas comes back out. He
gives me a paper of some sort . I ask him if they are going to get the video
from the store owner. I am wishing for more assertive action on their part as I
sit on the curb. Officer Ruelas initially took me seriously and showed concern,
but Officer Silver seems to be pushing him in the opposite direction…not sure
why. That’s be best summary I can give of the situation after the police
arrive. I get up to leave with my broken phone in hand. They never take a close
look at it. I get in my van and leave the parking lot. I don’t see them drive
away as if they are trying to find the Latino in the red shirt who broke my
phone.
I go to Ford of Orange and inquire
about the work they need to do on my vehicle. The guy says he will order the
parts and to return on Monday so they can begin the job. I leave Ford of Orange
and decide to go back to the 7-eleven
(not inside, not for a further confrontation) to see if I can find the
extended-life battery that disappeared when the Latino guy smashed it on the
concrete on the east side of the store. I park across the street at the
Laundromat and walk across and almost immediately I see the black extended life
battery in the dirt. It is mangled, but to my astonishment when I put in in my
old G1 it actually powers up the phone. However, the old cover will not fit
over the phone properly because the battery is mangled (ie it lost its
rectangular shape and some of the internal parts are protruding).
At this point I take a few moments to see if I can transfer
my sim card and sd card to my older G1 phone (that is partially functional, but
has some issues with the touch screen, which is why I had purchased a new used
G1 two months prior. G1 phones are the original android smart phone. I want to
keep using G1’s as long as I can because of familiarity and also because of a
video zoom attachment that I use.). I manage to start up the older G1 and wait
to see if the sd card had the videos on it, intact. I was very RELIEVED to find
the video clips from inside the 7-eleven, as well as outside (where they
essentially attacked me, and took my phone) were not destroyed even though the
G1 had been destroyed. I watched the three video clips on my older G1 and from
there I went to the Orange Police Dept
on Batavia. It’s my first time at this police department, but not the first
time I’ve had business with them. About a year or so ago I reported a crying baby in a locked van
at the Orange main library, and an Officer Smith took the call (why that is
relevant will become clear ).
Anyways, I wait for a person at the
desk to inquire about a police report. They tell me there’s a “$50 fee” for the
non-calling party to get a copy of the report. I tell them I WAS the CALLING
PARTY…that I called 911, and I was the one who ran to Officer Ruelas who seemed
to be just passing by and flagged him down! Maybe 7-eleven also called the
police, as they claimed they were doing, but Officer Ruelas didn’t take the
call. He seemed to be just passing by when I waved him down. Maybe Silver was
arriving due to the 7-eleven call, albeit I remember Ruelas used his flashlight
to signal to Silver as he was either driving by or specifically driving to the
7-eleven. I still don’t know for sure if 7-eleven called the police.
I asked to speak to the “watch
commander” at the police station. A few moments later a stately officer,
obviously with some executive power, came out to the lobby and I shook his hand and
began to tell him what happened. He tells me he is giving me the “CAD report”
at no cost, which apparently is not the same as an official police report. I
tell him I want to make an official report and press charges. And I show him
one of the three video clips, the third one ends abruptly when the Latino guy
grabbed my hand with the phone and wrestled it away from me. Apparently this is
enough for him and he leaves the lobby to call a police officer to take my
official report.
Shortly later Officer Smith
arrives. As mentioned he was the one who responded to my baby in a locked van
emergency call, albeit we only interacted by phone in regard to that matter,
and in passing (once) at the court hearing. I don’t think he remembers me from
that incident and I remind him of it. He wants to get to what happened today
(August 21), and I begin to rehearse what took place, and then he watches the
three video clips. I also show him my broken phone and the mangled battery. I
point out that the 7-eleven employee kicked the “slippery floor” cone at me,
and at another point in the video it shows the employee hitting my hand, and
saying “Get that outta my face…” Officer
Smith tells me he thinks I have an “excellent case for vandalism”. He’s not sure about the assault.
That’s about the extent of our
conversation. He gives me a paper with a police report # and “victim rights”
information, and asks for a copy of the videos on either CD/DVD or flash drive.
I tell him it will take me a few days. I also talk to him about things I do in
and around Orange: ie donate blood, attend pro-life rallies outside the planned
parenthood, periodically attend St. Norbert church, as well as Holy Family
Cathedral, use the Orange library, and attend Angels games in nearby Anaheim,
and now also going to Ford of Orange (shortly after this they worked on my car
for a whole week, to replace the torque converted per safety recall). I inform
Officer Smith that I am in Christian ministry, and have two bachelor degrees
and a masters degree, and that I am “no punk” as the 7-eleven guy called me,
among other things. I have a PURPOSE in life. I have a purpose-driven life. I
don’t go to 7-eleven to hang out, nor to socialize , nor to seek approval, nor
because I am lonely. I go there for specific reasons and then leave, just like
at any other store.
The next day, August 22, 2015
(Saturday) I am scheduled to attend a pro-life rally outside the planned
parenthood on Tustin Ave in Orange (Tustin & 22 freeway). I arrive and am
happy to see a lot of people there. It was a great day for pro-life not just in
Orange, but nationwide. Rallies happened all over the country. In the evening I
also attend the grand opening of Saddleback church (Anaheim) as they moved into
their new building , and Rick Warren made an appearance. I have periodically
attended Saddleback Anaheim while they were at the Grove. I also find a voice
mail from Officer Smith reminding me to provide a copy of the videos, and also
file the broken phone with the police department as “evidence.”
On August 24, 2015 I return to
Orange with my van for the scheduled safety recall work. I am provided a loaner
rental car at no cost pending the
completion of the job. Leaving Ford of Orange I go to the Orange Police Dept
with a CD copy of the videos from the 7-eleven incident. I talk to the female
worker (“service officer”) named Ruelas
behind the desk. As it turns out, she is the sister of the Officer Ruelas who I
waved down at the 7-eleven. I tell her I am there to provide a copy of the
videos and my broken phone as evidence, per Officer Smith’s instructions.
Service Officer Ruelas takes the CD of the videos and puts it in a manila envelope,
but is hesitant to take my broken phone as evidence. She says normally they
would take a picture of the phone . I tell her that Officer Smith specifically
asked for it. She reluctantly takes it and adds it to the evidence file.
I leave the police department and
try to call Officer Smith but his voicebox is full, so I write a note on an old
envelope and walk back in to the police department and ask service officer
Ruelas to leave this for Officer Smith. I leave the police department again and
as of September 1, 2015 at 11:23 am (pst) have heard nothing further from
Officer Smith, nor from 7-eleven corporate, nor from the field manager, nor
anybody else in regard to this incident. I have gone online seeking an
attorney. I remain mentally & emotionally troubled by this event. I also
purchased a new (used) G1 phone via ebay, and have transferred my materials to
it. I might add that I did LOSE SOME VALUABLE data that was not backed up on
the broken G1. I am told that they only way to recover that data is to go to
the old phone and perform some technical work on it that is beyond my ability ,
and apparently would require several hundred dollars to have a data recovery
company do it.
This letter is an attempt to define
the issue(s) and in some sense give people an idea of who I am and what I
represent. I am a GOOD CITIZEN, and want things to work well in the community.
I try to help people. When somebody down-and-out asks for help I often, but not
always, try to give either some financial assistance, or spiritual/emotional
encouragement. I am a compassionate person. I started out in life trying to
help people using my psychology degree. Coming out of college I worked as a
counselor for troubled adolescents, as well as troubled adults, even
geriatrics, and also children, but mostly in the adolescent unit at a hospital
for troubled persons (ie Christian psychiatric hospital), in Grand Rapids,
Michigan (where I grew up). I also
worked as a home health care assistant during college for an elderly man with
alzheimers disease. I also worked in Costa Rica as a disaster relief volunteer
for our church denomination, and stayed there post-disaster as a teacher/tutor
and a tourist guide in a remote rainforest area. I’ve also worked as a
missionary in the Philippines.
Later in life I returned to college
for a second bachelor’s degree with the intention of being a teacher. I
obtained my teaching degree in Michigan after completing all the required
courses as well as the classroom teacher training field work. With my teaching
degree in hand in 1994, after spending a summer working in Jackson Hole Wyoming
where some of my relatives also reside, I returned to Bellflower California
where our family had moved to in 1984. I didn’t return to Bellflower, however.
I moved to Coachella where I took my first job as a high school teacher. I
remained in Coachella for two years, as I gradually realized I had an even
higher calling to Christian ministry. Leaving Coachella after the 1995-96
school year I returned to Michigan where my church denomination and seminary is
headquartered, and began taking the required classes for first-year seminary
students, including a year of Greek, and introduction to Hebrew.
After a year at my denominational
seminary (Calvin Seminary) I decided to transfer to Fuller Seminary in Pasadena
California beginning the Fall of 1997. I continued to take the required classes
for a Masters-in-Divinity and also returned to teaching part-time to full-time
as a substitute teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. For the
next four or five years I continued taking seminary classes while working as a
substitute teacher, and also did a CPE internship at UCLA medical center.
While completing my required seminary
courses, I also started my own Christian ministry, initially named Mustard Seed
Ministries, based on the Bible verse in Matthew 17.20 which says, in part:
“[Jesus] replied, "… Truly I tell
you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you." This verse has always been inspirational to me,
and made all the more so by the ministry of the Crystal Cathedral and the late Robert
H. Schuller.
To understand who I am you have to
know that my family moved to Bellflower, California in 1984 because my dad took
a job as the Director of Pastoral Care at the Crystal Cathedral, at a
point-in-time when the Cathedral was at the height of its church membership and
Hour of Power (tv show) popularity. It was a very exciting time for our family.
I had just completed my junior year of high school and still remember visiting
my dad’s new office on the 10th floor at the Crystal Cathedral. What
a view it was! You must remember I was coming from Grand Rapids, Michigan,
which seemed relatively small-town compared to southern California. And the
church itself was SO BIG ! It really was exciting, but at the same time there
were adjustments to be made. My older brother & sister were in college in Michigan by that time so they never
actually lived in our house at California apart from visiting. My younger
brother was in junior high and he began attending the local Christian School
(name withheld because this may be read by one of the 7-eleven employees et al
who may try to find me for reprisal) , which was founded by my late
grandfather.
I was expected to finish my senior
year at this same local Christian school, and began practicing football with
the team. However, I decided at the last moment to return to Michigan and
complete my senior year at my “hometown” high school. I still consider Grand
Rapids my hometown, and actually after 1984 remained there, come –and-go , to
attend our denominational college. I came and went from southern California and
Bellflower ever since that time. I worked at UPS in Cerritos for one summer and
also Knotts Berry Farm, but gradually kept moving to other places for mission
work (Philippines, Costa Rica, et al). or more school (Chaminade University,
Honolulu, Hawaii) , and later Coachella as a teacher, and then back to
Michigan, and once again back to Los Angeles. All the while I‘ve lived in many
different places, cities, states, and countries; but the house in Bellflower
has always remained a permanent family address.
I am heterosexual, but I have never
been married, and remain celibate, with the possibility of marriage, but not
something I am actively seeking. I had a variety of relationships with various
female friends, but none of them came to fruition in terms of marriage, and at
some point I decided to be celibate and not seek marriage, but simply leave it
open as a possibility if it seems according
to God’s will for me.
Meanwhile, I spend a LOT of time
working on various online blogs that I maintain mostly for the purpose of
Christian ministry and evangelism. I am an ordained pastor with all the
required seminary courses (not all pastors go to seminary and formally study
the Bible and related materials: ie hermeneutics, church history, Greek &
Hebrew, apologetics, etc). However, at this point I am NOT a church pastor. I
am a semi-established Christian evangelist, and am always seeking new ways to
reach people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. This includes online
evangelism as well as “street ministry” (ie incidental interactions with people
, as well as “windshield wiper” evangelism such as Christian cards &
tracts, and also pocket Bibles, among other things). I am proud to have
voice-recorded the entire Bible which I originally posted online as an Audio
Bible (but the online site , posterous, eventually closed) but is also
available on CD, which I also give to people.
I have also become quite active in
pro-life ministry. You may find me, periodically, on Tustin Avenue in Orange,
in front of the Planned Parenthood holding various signs: ie “Save our Babies”,
and “Protect Unborn Life”, and “Jesus loves Unborn Life”. I’ve also attended
the annual March for Life in San
Francisco, as well as the inaugural March for Life in Los Angeles in January of
2015. I still hope to attend, at some point, the largest March for Life in the
country, in Washington DC.
Let me also explain a little bit
about the IMPORTANCE of BELLFLOWER to our family because it seems to be a point
of curiosity for people who only know Bellflower in terms of its location on a
map and perhaps perceived or misperceived socioeconomics (I recently had a
local person try to make me feel inferior because he thought I was “from
Bellflower”). Bellflower is a mixture of all types of people, ethnicities, and
socio-economics. Although I do not actually live in Bellflower, because it is
my registered address, , I must periodically explain my history & context alongside the City of Bellflower.
As mentioned, our family moved to
Bellflower in 1984 because my dad took a job at the Crystal Cathedral. He
is/was a pastor for the Chrsitian Reformed Church (CRC) and the Crystal
Cathedral is also part of the Reformed tradition, albeit is/was actually a
member of the Reformed Church of America (RCA). Both the CRC & RCA have
their original roots in the Dutch Reformed Church which originally established
itself in America in “New Amsterdam” (now Manhattan Island, New York, New York,
and gradually spread westward, and established numerous churches in the
Midwest, especially Iowa & Michigan. At some point in time due to some
theological arguments, the Dutch Reformed Church in America split into the
Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and The Reformed Church of America (RCA). Both
retained their largely Dutch-American identity. Over time the theological
differences became less important and gradually there has been greater unity
between RCA & CRC.
Eventually, the CRC and RCA began
churches further west, finally also in California, and in particular Bellflower
became a Dutch stronghold for the CRC in southern California. In the northern
parts of California, Modesto & Ripon are the Dutch CRC strongholds. In 1936
my grandfather who came to bellflower to be pastor of one of the CRC’s in bellflower (also called “1st
bell”). He also was the founder of the
one of the local Bellflower Christian schools. Both this local Christian
school and the church are in operation
today. My dad was a child in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s and Bellflower
was his hometown. However, in the mid 1940’s my grandfather took a call back to
Michigan where he pastured another church in the city of Holland. Both Holland
(named after the country Netherlands) and Grand Rapids are Dutch-American
communities, the largest community of CRC’s and RCA’s in the United States.
The denominational college for the
RCA (Hope College) is in Holland (MI), and the denominational college for the
CRC (Calvin College) is in Grand Rapids, MI. The two cities are about 30 miles
apart. This is where grew up. I was a member of the CRC. I self-identified as
“Christian Reformed Dutch-American.” My dad was a CRC pastor, and my
grandfather was a CRC pastor.
With this short history lesson in
mind, this is why my father, a CRC pastor, was able to work for the RCA Crystal
Cathedral, and also remain partially on board at one of the CRC churches in
Bellflower . This is why Bellflower is important to our family not as a matter
of location or socioeconomics but in terms of denominational & church &
ethnic history. On the other side of my family, my late grandfather Leo Peters
was the founder of Butterball Farms, which still provides butter patties for
McDonalds breakfast across the USA. Today, Butterball Farms, based in Grand
Rapids, is owned and operated by my half-uncle, Mark Peters, who is two or
three years older than me.
I hope this gives you some context.
I hope it helps you better see and understand me as a person whether or not you
agree with my religious beliefs or related faith and politics. I rely on the
goodwill of people. I have to trust that when I enter a store or establishment
of some sort that they will treat me simply with “good citizenship.” I feel
that I was NOT treated with such decency at the 7-eleven on August 21. As you
can see and hear in the video, the 7-eleven employee began berating and
insulting me ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. We barely had begun a conversation before he
began calling me names, using profanities, and ordering me out of the store. It
was premature and out-of-proportion to the topic of the conversation. It was AS
IF he thought he could talk and treat me like garbage. It was AS IF he was
trying to provoke me to become aggressive, yet all-the-while I did NOT return
insult-for-insult, nor anything else. As the video shows I was backing out of
the store, and eventually out of the store “waiting for police” with the doors
closed and the employee and the Latino guy inside, when they decided to
aggressively come out of the store towards me as I held the camera phone in
hand.
It was at this point that the
Latino guy grabbed my hand and phone and the employee blocked me from trying to
get it back. As the Latino guy went around the corner I pushed past the
employee who continued to try to block me and assist the Latino guy who I
thought was trying to steal the phone and run away. As I pushed past the employee
and the Ltino guy went around the corner, I kept saying “Give me the phone
back” . For a moment he stood there as I did not know what he was going to do.
Suddenly he lifted his arm and threw the phone down on the concrete as HARD AS
HE COULD! ALL-the-while, the employee was standing there, not blocking me
anymore, but clearly not trying to help me get my phone back. As I bent down to
pick up my broken phone they may have tried to hit or kick me to knock me down.
They were very close to me. I picked up the phone and ran back around the
corner towards my vehicle and asked the donut shop to call the police. They
refused, and told me to use the payphone. And at his point, I am repeating some
of the above.
I was NOT TREATED ACCORDING to any
decent standard of customer service . I was NOT treated in accordance with who
I am as a citizen and as a Christian , and as an educated person, whether or
not one agrees with my religious and political position. I remain emotionally
& mentally troubled by what happened at the 7-eleven on August 21, 2015. I
was NOT treated appropriately. I was mistreated. I was treated wrongly. The
7-eleven employee and Latino man intended to insult and try to humiliate me,
and even possibly physically injure me. It was out-of-proportion to anything I
did or said, and served no purpose apart from intending to intimidate and try
to humiliate me. It was morally WRONG as well as illegal. It was intended to
inflict emotional distress, and did so. And the physical contact was an assault
on me, and the destruction of the phone was theft and vandalism.
Finally, I appreciate the way I was
treated by the watch commander and Officer Smith. They seemed to treat me with
the proper respect I deserve as a citizen and Christian, and in accord with how
I assume they themselves like to be treated. (And when I speak of myself as a
good citizen and a Christian, I am not speaking of self-righteousness nor that
I think I am a perfect person. This is NOT the time or place for confession of
sins, but YES I am also a sinner and am not perfect, but am made whole again
because of the grace of God, and I continue to grow as a Christian and become a
better person on a continual basis.)
By the way, initially I was taken
aback by something the watch commander said (ie “you got kicked out of a
7-eleven”?) , but after we conversed for a few moments I felt better by the
encounter, when he realized this was more serious than that and that I am not a
kid, but a 48-year-old man, and that my phone was destroyed. Officer Smith also
treated me with dignity and respect. I might disagree in some parts about what
he said during our conversation, but in general I felt good about our
interaction. Initially, I also felt good about how Officer Ruelas responded at
the 7-eleven. He took me seriously and seemed seriously concerned about what
happened. I was less impressed by Officer Silver who seemed to be trying to
degrade me, and seemed to be taking the side of the 7-eleven employee &
Latino guy despite having not even really heard what had actually happened. He
did NOT seem concerned or empathetic or sympathetic that my phone had been
destroyed. I go back to what the 7-eleven employee said on video about “Who’s side do you think they will be on”
(ie the police) and wonder why he had such great confidence that the police
would automatically back him and 7-eleven?!
IT makes me wonder if there is some
sort of bias some of the police have in favor of the 7-eleven store &
employees and against the customer? Yes, 7-eleven is “private property” but
customers have a right to expect decent customer service. The remark by the
7-eleven employee about “Whose side do you think they will be on?” as well as
the automatic favoritism by Officer Silver for 7-eleven makes me wonder if the police get some sort
of benefit for protecting 7-eleven automatically. Do they get free coffee? Do
they realize that maybe some of the 7-eleven employees and/or owner have begun
to disrespect the “customer” to such an extent that they show no fear about
insulting or trying to humiliate a customer such as myself, even when they
know they are on video? If such is the case with a camera in their face, how
much worse might they be when they are not being recorded? It would be quite a
stretch-of-belief to think that I am the ONLY ONE they have ever treated with
such disregard and contempt out-of-proportion to anything I did or said. If
they have no fear or apprehension about treating a white educated Christian man
in such a way, how might they be towards persons they have even greater
contempt towards?
This is all I will say about the
matter at this time. I will wait an appropriate amount of time for further
communication from the Orange PD and/or prosecuting attorneys, hoping they will
take this seriously and prosecute this matter accordingly. I will also wait an
appropriate amount of time for a response from 7-eleven, whether somebody at
the corporate headquarters or the field manager, or both. I will also be
sending this letter and video-links (and/or the CD) to other people to let them know what
happened as a matter of community awareness and prayer, and also remain open to
the possibility of civil legal action. For those who remain obstinate to decent
citizenship, legal action seems to be the only remedy. I don’t know any other
alternative. If you have some suggestions or offers, please let me know.
RALPH ROLLINS
(the police know my real name but I
wish to keep it confidential from the 7-eleven employees and the latino guy out
of fear of further reprisal . The Latino guy did say, as I told Officer Smith,
that he was going to find my house based on my license plate and do something
to me, or my family. )