Last night my mother was mugged in the wal-mart (Bullhead City Arizona)parking lot.Apparently what she had said is that she was getting in her truch and 3 teens 1Black 2Mexicans came up to her and grabbed her on her right shoulder and said "We want your money".She told them she didn't have any money on her(she really didn't) so then they spun her around and pushed her into the edge of the truck door.Next all she remembers is a orange fluorescent vest.(Wal-Mart cart collectors) dragging them into the store.Now she has a severe concussion and wal-mart says that her truck was not there at the time the mugging occurred.Now since the police are investigating Wal-Mart wants a receipt proving she was there now the only problem is that she bought only a iced tea and when the teens pushed her into the door she dropped the receipt.After the teens were dragged into Wal-mart she drove off without getting the receipt.Now the cart collectors are refusing to say anything.The cops said that they would try to get them for burglary and assault but can they be charged with vandalism because the put about over 30 scratches down the drivers side of her truck.Is there anyway to continue the investigation without the receipt?

Of first of course not to be picky but depending on where you live the actual term vandalism is not a real crime in many places, it falls under many other names, tresspass, criminal damage to property or some other name.

But to be honest burglary and assult are serious crimes the other is little or nothing, and if they get convicted on one of the felony, the other crime just gets served at the same time. Also most likely they have nothing but even if not changed she can sue them for damages also.

But walmart should actually be forced to provde a receipt, they know the @ time it happened, she should be able to say what register she went to,
She can hire an attorney and force the cart people and the register person to talk.

Apparently Wal-Mart is saying they do not have this on video and have no records of it happening yet the cart collectors actually forced them to go inside and Wal-Mart called the police.How is that possible?Does Wal-Mart think that she is going to sue them?

Hello flash:

Yes they do, and she absolutely should.

excon

I'm a little confused here. Your mother was accosted in the Wal Mart lot. The cart collectors, collared the perps and took them inside the store where the police were called. In the mean time you mother just drove away. Did the WalMart people offer her any assistance or ask her to come inside to press charges?

What are the police doing? Did they take a statement from the Wal-Mart employees? Did they actually arrest the punks? Did you mother go to the police to file a complaint?

There are a lot of missing pieces here.

If the police arrested the punks, they HAD to have taken a statement from the cart collectors, otherwise they had no grounds for an arrest. You mother would then be added to that police report IF she reported the incident to them.

Laws must be different in Arizona - I don't understand why it's burglary and not robbery.

Anyway - WalMart may not be responsible. Incidents in parking lots are difficult (at leat in NYS). WalMart may not own the lot, there are a lot of factors involved. There is a reasonable expectation you will be safe in a parking lot but unless there were lots of problems, is WalMart responsible for security in the parking lot - ? That's the question.

As far as the receipt - the purchases are all on computer. WalMart has it on computer and it will be easy to find if that was her only purchase.

And, yes, someone complained to the Police, as Scott said.

If she paid cash, they may not be able to attribute it to her. They can confirm that an ice tea was purchased for cash around the time of the incident but not who purchased it unless that can tie a security camera to the register for that time.

But I don't see why that's important. The only reason that would be important is if she is putting in a claim against WalMart. Is she doing that? If so, she has an uphill battle as Judy mentioned.

Like I said, a lot of missing pieces here.

Whenever I work on an incident/accident involving a store I always try to pull a receipt if the potential Plaintiff does not have one. Doesn't positively prove the person was there but does back up the potential Plaintiff's "version" and the info may not available if the "she wasn't here" argument is raised later.

And, yes, a lot of missing pieces -

My mother had a severe concussion and didn't know what she was doing.Wal-Mart cart collectors did not offer her any assistance.The Police are reviewing the tapes still and my mother filed a police report at the hospital and no she is not pressing charges against wal-mart.She wants to press charges against the teens for the scratches all around her truck,bent glasses($300)and for the hospital bill.

I'm not sure I wouldn't ask an Attorney about WalMart's liability - I know it didn't happen but your mother had a severe concussion, got in a vehicle and drove home... and nobody at WalMart offered any assistance.

Not saying you would win but I would look into it - your mother certainly has other damages such as pain and suffering.

The punks don't have money so I doubt if you will recover damages from them. While WalMart is probably not responsible for the attack, they could have liability for not coming to your mother's aid and calling an ambulance.

All right a detective wants to talk to her Tuesday and I have a friend of mine talking to one of his friends who is one of wal-marts cart collectors to see if he can convince everyone else to talk.

Ok, walmart is most likely putting pressure on them not to talk or they will lose their jobs and you will need all of the witnesses to tell what they know, you do that by having them called in and testify under oath at a deposition hearing from your attorney.

I am sure a "fiend" is trying to help but actually he can destroy the case, image a defense attorney asking him, OK you were not going to testify but another person came and "talked" you into it, did they force you, did they pay you, did they scare you. Ok the answer may be no, but the jury just hears this and say, well a friend talked him into talking.

Family and friends need to stay out of this, do this though the legal system.

Big, big mistake - do not muddy the waters here. Stay away.

Hello again:

Like I said - she should SUE. But, she needs a REAL lawyer. YOU, my friend, are NOT helping her. She should hire a lawyer TODAY!!

excon

PS> In case you misunderstood my advice, I'm going to repeat it. She needs a LAWYER, and she needs him TODAY!! Just imagine the big bag of money that she could be getting if you/she acted properly. Now picture spilling it out all over the street. That's what's happening every day she DOESN'T have a lawyer. You're leaving money on the street.