Aggressive father in a supermarket

The incident took place on Sunday (28 August), as an eyewitness told us. According to him, at around 12:00, the intoxicated father of a 3- or 4-year-old boy began insulting him in extremely vulgar terms. He allegedly said to his son: “You cunt” and “Come here, you rag, or I’ll fucking hit you.”

– The child only wanted to look at the shop windows while his father was paying the bill – the witness says. – He is a small child who cannot stay in one place for long. The insults were terribly vulgar, and the whole situation was awful. The store security did not react at all.

The witness says that the child began crying as the father headed toward the exit, while the friend accompanying him warned him that if he did not calm down, “he would be in deep shit.” No one else reacted to the father’s vulgar behavior, neither the cashiers, customers nor security.

At the store exit, according to the witness, the father allegedly kicked his son because the child did not want to leave the store and stopped by the colorful toy cars. A woman—some say she was the father’s acquaintance or neighbor—asked the supermarket security to react to the aggressive man’s behavior. By then, the father and son had already left the shopping arcade. The witness claims that the security guard refused to intervene, explaining that he was not required to leave the store building and intervene outside.

A PLN 50 fine for using vulgar language

The witness does not know what happened outside the store, but after a while another man pulled or pushed the aggressive father back into the shopping arcade. Only then did security react and call the police.

– We received a report from Carrefour security that two adult men were wrestling on the store premises – says acting police spokesperson Anna Kublik-Rościszewska. – We sent a patrol car there. The man was not drunk and received a PLN 50 fine for using vulgar language in a public place. The child was collected by his mother, who arrived in the car park.

The police officers who arrived at the scene wanted to speak with witnesses. Unfortunately, no one was willing to do so. One man whom the officers approached merely said that the child had been kicked and disappeared.

– Unfortunately, people are more willing to talk to a journalist than to a police officer – the police spokesperson laments. – Yet we are the ones who can actually help a child in such a situation, not a journalist. The security guards did not confirm to the police the version about the child being kicked. The descriptions of the father’s behavior are interpreted differently.

The eyewitness is outraged by security’s attitude and its failure to react to the child’s harm. – As human beings, they should have reacted – he says in a conversation with us. – They should have admonished the father, said something to him, and stopped his aggressive behavior.

The police spokesperson says that the security guards described the incident to the police differently from our witness. – The security guards stated that the father used his foot to direct the child toward the door – Kublik-Rościszewska reports. – I checked on the 34-year-old Bolesławiec resident, and we have no information about him or his family. There is no “Blue Card,” which is issued in families where domestic violence occurs.

Security reacted weakly

Although the police spokesperson does not know the procedures and duties of security at Carrefour, she also believes that security guards should maintain order in the store and react to the man’s behavior. Her assumptions are confirmed by the head of Solid Security at the hypermarket.

– Security is hired mainly to minimize the material losses of the protected company, that is, to prevent theft, but security guards have the same rights on the store premises as public officers – says Łukasz Mocarski. – Security guards are obliged to react to a situation such as the one described.

Mocarski knows about the Sunday incident, but he too received differing information about the father’s behavior. – Some say he kicked his son, while others say he only grabbed him and pushed him toward the exit with his foot – he adds.

If any eyewitness wishes to inform the police—even anonymously—in person, a community police officer will be sent to the man’s home to conduct an inquiry. If necessary, the procedure for issuing a “Blue Card” will then begin.

– If, based on the information gathered by the community police officer, we determine that the child’s welfare is being violated, the case will be referred to the family court – the spokesperson says. – Sometimes the neighbors of such families know a great deal, but unfortunately they rarely inform the police on their own.

(information: Grażyna Hanaf)