WARNING: Some viewers may find the above video disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
GuardTeck Security is apologizing to those who were upset by the video of what they say was an “unfortunate incident” on Wednesday at Uptown mall in Saanich.
In a video posted online and now viewed more than 100,000 times, two GuardTeck Security guards are seen kneeing and shoving a young man into the ground as they try and handcuff him.
WATCH: As Richard Zussman reports, the security company is saying the confrontation caught on camera doesn’t tell the entire story.
Kristy Westendorp was nearby when the incident started. She says she first saw a security guard grabbing the collar of the young man’s t-shirt and restricting his breathing. She says the man was then taken to the ground aggressively by a pair of guards. At this point, Westendorp started recording on her phone and posted the video online.
“I don’t think any violence was needed whatsoever. The whole thing was escalated immediately after he took this bag of cans,” said Westendorp. “I have spoken to the individual in the video and he clarified to me he did not steal the bag of cans, he had a bag he had been collecting through the day, most of which were not from Uptown.”
The young man also told her he has suffered a concussion and that once the police arrived things deescalated pretty quickly.
In a statement, GuardTeck says they are doing a thorough investigation into what happened but that the individual shown in the video has a history of violent action in the mall, including assault, theft, damage to property and mischief.
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“We do know that there was much more to the situation than what is shown in the video,” reads the statement from GuardTeck CEO Seth Fruson. “He has been legally banned from the premises. When he was approached by our staff, he immediately became agitated and assaulted one of our officers.”
“Although things escalated, incidents like this are very rare and we work extremely hard to avoid these unfortunate circumstances.”
In a statement, Uptown mall said they apologize to those guests who saw the incident.
“We apologize to those guests who witnessed an unfortunate incident on [Wednesday] evening at Uptown. An individual who is legally banned from our site was asked to leave by Security and subsequently assaulted the security officer and was detained until police arrived. Our number one priority is creating a safe and friendly environment for all our guests. We will conduct a thorough internal review into this incident and appreciate the level of concern shown by our community.”
Saanich Police is now investigating and as part of the investigation authorities are attempting to determine exactly what occurred prior to this video starting.
Westendorp said she did not see the young man assault the officers and believes the situation could have been resolved without violence.
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