From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Wed Mar 13 2002 - 07:35:42 MST
[Blunderov]
The following is just too apt to be resisted, even if it does mean carrying
some coals to Newcastle.
[Quote]
from the Star Newspaper, Johannesburg, Weds. 13/03/2002
Winona Ryder's prosecution interrupted.
Los Angeles - A surveillance video of actress Winona Ryder's ill fated
shopping spree won't win her an Oscar, but it may keep her out of jail.
Footage of the /Girl, Interrupted/ star taken by closed-circuit cameras
inside a Saks Fifth Avenue store appears to contradict allegations that
Ryder removed security tags from merchandise in an attempt to shoplift the
items, according to her attorney and others who have seen the tape.
About 90 minutes of surveillance footage shows Ryder trying on hats, putting
on lipstick, riding the escalator, moving through racks of clothes, chatting
with sales clerks and going in and out of the store and is stopped by
security personnel.
But Ryder is never seen trying to remove anti theft sensors from
merchandise, as police allege she was caught doing by the cameras, according
to separate examinations of the tape by the /Los Angeles Times/ and the TV
show /Extra/.
Indeed, her attorney, Mark Geragos, said he found nothing incriminating on
the video. "This tape exonerates her" he told the /Los Angeles Times/. "I'd
say this is a prosecution, interrupted. " - Reuters
[/quote]
[Blunderov]
One has to wonder what prompted the security personnel to stop her if she
had done nothing apparently suspicious, as the video evidence is alleged to
show. One also wonders what prompted the police to allege that she had been
caught on camera; a Freudian slip perhaps?
The only window of opportunity to remove the tags unobserved (?) would have
been in the change rooms. Whilst it is not it's impossible that there are,
in fact, cameras installed in the change rooms as well, it seems to me far
more probable that the tags themselves emit a radio signal when uncoupled
and that this, or something of the sort, is what alerted the security
personnel.
It would seem that Winona Ryder is by no means completely exonerated but it
remains to be seen whether the store chooses to disclose what alerted them,
or whether they will prefer rely on the chain of inference.
Fond regards
Blunderov
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