Waitress assaults Autistic Child, manager, San Diego Police do nothing

[PatGund]

A batch of people went out to Pokez, a vegan-friendly Mexican place in San Diego, California. Among them was a close friend of mine

What happened was a nightmare. When an autistic child took too long (according to the waitress) to order, the waitress shook the child, screamed at him, and mocked him publically.

When the parents complainted to the manager, the manager mocked them for having a "defective child" and told the party to leave.

When they tried to file assult and battery charges with the San Diego Police Department, the officer would only do an incident report, as the officer didn't feel it merited either an assault and battery report or an ADA complaint.

The father, a NASA engineer, is livid.

http://brian1789.livejournal.com/595105.html

http://www.graphictruth.com/2007/02/evil-monkey-with-bloody-burrito-should.html

http://brian1789.livejournal.com/595698.html

[citizen snips]

1. Can you file a complaint with the BBB?

[PatGund]

9. Yep

And been done

[Kajsa]

2. She shook him and screamed at him?

This constitutes both verbal and physical assault.

That witch should be fired, immediately.
For that matter, so should the manager for mocking the child.

I certainly hope the parents filed an ADA complaint
and contacted the local media.
The word needs to get out how these creeps do business.

Please keep us updated on this.

[PatGund]

10. They tried

The SDPD officer who took their report refused to file assualt and battery charges, and said there wasn't enough reason to file ADA either.

The parents are going to talk with the officer's supervisor and the DA's office today. They're also looking at media and the SD chapter of the ASA is involved now.

[Kajsa]

12. Good!

I hope they put some heat on those bastards!

[tavalon]

19. What the fuck?

Of course, had anyone done that to my child, I would be facing assault and battery charges for what I would have done to that waitress and the manager for that matter.

[Kajsa]

3. Is this the restaurant?

http://www.pokezsd.com/

With their "organic and vegan" menu?
They sure don't practice what they preach.

When was the last time you heard of an abusive, bigoted organic food lover?
That's an oxymoron if ever I heard one.

Wishing loads of bad press for these creeps.

[Dervill Crow]

4. Hmmm. The link doesn't work, "account has been suspended."

Karma in action, if that is in fact the restaurant.

[Kajsa]

5. Wow! It worked yesterday!

This is wild- I wonder what happened.

[Kajsa]

13. Now it's working again for some reason.

n/t

[Kajsa]

6. This link works- Check Out Some of the Comments- ;-)!

http://www.vegsandiego.com/veg/listings/3/Pokez_Mexican_and_Vegetarian_Cuisine.htm

Finally, the bad publicity these buttheads need to straighten up!

I added my review, which may not be "approved" by the site administrator.
They haven't added it yet.

So- I'm pasting it here, in case I need to edit it so they will approve it.
The last question may have been the clincher.

Assault on special needs patron.
Review Body: I am also a member of an online group of people with special needs and their families. It is absolutely reprehensible that this waitress got away with physically and verbally assaulting a young man with autism. Compounding the outrage is the manager who did not help the family, but told them their son was "too much trouble" and asked them to LEAVE ( as in refuse to serve) the restaurant!! The young man did nothing except take "too long" to order his meal. He has autism! Would a man in a wheelchair be required to walk is this God forsaken place? Who are these people? Why do they think they can break the laws and rights of people with disabilities? Why are they still in business?

I am so angry I could explode!

[Kajsa]

7. PatGund, here's a link where you can add a review.

http://www.vegsandiego.com/veg/listings/3/Pokez_Mexican...


They haven't added mine yet.
(see my post below)

I'll check later today- maybe my wording was too strong.
Otherwise, I'll tone down the rhetoric a bit and try again.

[PatGund]

8. Thanks

Yours was added, and I wrote one too.

Plus their rating on Yelp.com has plummeted.

The owner is trying to claim now that the family was rude (they weren't) and they tried to extort money from them (they didn't) Also that their child "wasn't really autistic because he could talk" (WHAT????)

Obviously the owner and management are NOT interested in doing the right thing here.....

[Kajsa]

11. Hi PatGund,

No, they didn't add mine.
Cassandra is yet another ticked off person.

I revised mine in hopes that they will add it.
It's under my first name -Karin.

"the family was rude-they were trying to extort money"
What a bunch of lying bastards they are!

I sure as hell hope to parents file a lawsuit against this restaurant
and the manager.

No, they're not interested in doing the right thing at all.

:grr:

[PatGund]

14. Hmmmm

Ack! My mistake!

[hedgehog]

18. I looked over the reviews. There are complaints going back to 2003

about the lousy service and rude staff. Some people apparently enjoy it!

[Kajsa]

15. Hi Patgund,

There still haven't published my "review".
Maybe the Admin. is rejecting "reviews" from people
who haven't eaten there, now?

Do you have any updates from the father?
I haven't been able to locate any.


Thanks.

:hi:

[PatGund]

16. Sure

http://brian1789.livejournal.com/

[tavalon]

20. Jesus

The world just got too fricken small. I've met that fellow many years ago. I didn't remember that he had a special needs child. OTOH, it was before I became superstepmom to my wonderful wacky autistic son so it might not have hit my radar.

[ThatsMyBarack]

17. When I was young:

Sometimes when people would treat me this badly, and I'd report it, the people in charge would do nothing. If I'd been the assaulter, however, I would have been busted. :cry:

[Kajsa]

21. That's unforgivable, Danagsk8.

Sometimes we have to raise hell to get the
attention a problem needs to get resolved.

But that's very hard to do when you're
quite young.

:hug: