sue!

To all the people saying they had probable cause etc. and that OP couldn't do anything: Are you so used to living in a police state deprived of all freedoms that you have completely forgotten even the most basic rules of logic and life, not only in a free land but even in nanny-state-land??? There is NO probable cause whatsoever, he said he was grabbed in the store and dragged to a security room. Private security has NO right to drag anyone anywhere, that is called assault and illegal detention. The POLICE are the only ones who have the right to invoke probable cause to do anything, and even then, they have to have some seriously good proof, otherwise it will be a complaint to their PD and even a pro-bono lawyer will get you out of the issue very easily. Cops get in trouble all the time when they search people without consent or detain people without proper probable cause. Private security has NO jurisdiction, all they can legally do is ask you to go with them to the room etc. They will try to intimidate you and make it sound like they have a right to, but you are perfectly legally allowed to just ignore them talking to you and walk right out of the store. They can NOT do anything to you, it will be assault the very instant they touch you. America, even Kalifornia, have a thing called the Constitution, in which another nifty thing, the 4th amendment, prevents abuse of authority and illegal searches, so that people won't abuse their power just because they're a cop. In the case of private security it's even more direct, they have no right to detain you whatsoever. They can search you if you consented to it for the sake of getting into a stadium or other such thing, but they can't prevent you from leaving a place or drag you anywhere on the excuse they dislike your clothes or whatever.