ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996               TAG: 9608010064
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER

CHARGE DISMISSED AGAINST MALL'S CHIEF OF SECURITY

BUT THE SCLC says there is a pattern of mistreatment of law-abiding shoppers at Valley View.

A Roanoke judge dismissed an assault charge Wednesday against the chief of security of Valley View Mall, who testified that he was only trying to a quell a heated altercation between three shoppers and the mall's security officers.

The decision disappointed members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Roanoke chapter, which renewed its call for a boycott of the mall based on what it calls unfair treatment of law-abiding shoppers.

The incident occurred the night of June 1 when Robert Manns, 25, was at a shoe store in the mall with two friends. One of Manns' friends told him not to buy anything at the store, recalling an incident in 1995 when the manager threw a pair of shoes at a young boy, witnesses said.

The manager overheard the conversation and asked the men to leave the store and the mall. A security officer soon was called in, and John Rutledge was asked to back up the officer as Manns and the two men began to ask why they had been ordered out of the mall.

Although Manns and his friends deny it, Rutledge and several other security officers testified that the three were yelling and cursing throughout much of the incident.

Manns testified that Rutledge pushed him on the chest for no reason. Rutledge said he placed one hand on the chest of his security officer, and extended the other one towards Manns in an effort to separate the two men.

"My hand could have inadvertently touched him," Rutledge testified.

Both men agreed that Manns demanded an apology, and that Rutledge offered one. But it didn't please Manns, who insisted that the officer refer to him as "Mr. Manns" in apologizing for touching him.

Manns also suggested that the incident was racially motivated, witnesses said. Manns and his two friends are black; all of the security officers who testified Wednesday are white.

Rutledge said he ordered the three men to leave the mall when it became clear the incident was getting out of hand. Manns, who came back into the mall seconds after leaving, was charged with trespassing.

But General District Judge William Broadhurst dismissed the charge, saying that while Manns was technically guilty of trespassing, he did eventually leave the mall when he was told to. In dismissing the assault charge against Rutledge, the judge said he was not convinced that the officer intended to injure Manns.

Jeanette Manns, Manns' mother and a vice president of the SCLC, said her group will continue to ask people to boycott the mall as a result of the incident. Manns said her group has received complaints from other shoppers who said they were mistreated by security officers.

The mall manager could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

LENGTH: Medium:   56 lines