Cathy Cruz Marrero: Why’d Security Let Her in Mall to Begin With?

January 20th, 2011. By AbiK

Rhetorical question—but I’ve had enough of this media circus over the mishap fall-into-the-fountain moment of Cathy Cruz Marrero. So yes, I’m going to join right in.

From the video gone viral, Marrero is seen texting while exiting an anchor store in a Pennsylvania mall. She’s distracted, and falls into a fountain dead ahead of her. I didn’t count the seconds elapsed, but she gets out fairly quickly and walks away. It’s not like she was struggling too hard to get out—she even managed to snag her phone as she climbed out. No stooping over to rub her knees. No holding her head. No limping. Ok, maybe she was in shock and a tad bit embarrassed. But with the speed she was moving at, she kind of seemed…ok.

So she was caught on the security camera. And somehow the video clip got from mall security to the internet.

Should someone in security—assuming that’s how the video went public—be given a talking to? Yes. Should they even face possible termination (a report on wfmz.com says the security guard has already been canned)?  Sure. For distributing the video. But a lawsuit? And one based on the fact that mall security did not come to Marrero’s aid? Seriously. And mind you, I count at least five or six other people on the video who were in striking distance of the fountain fall and could’ve taken notice or responded. They did not. Nice? No. Worthy of legal recourse? Uh, no.

Having said that, I’m predicting mall security will not come out of this one with a dismissal of charges.

Now, be that as it may,ABCnews reported earlier that Marrero had been charged in October, 2009 with allegedly using a co-worker’s credit cards to rack up charges to tune of $5,000 at such fine establishments as Zales and Target. Sentencing is expected at her next court appearance on April 21st (as reported in the Reading Eagle) and she’s looking at perhaps six months of house arrest and electronic monitoring.

It gets better. ABCnews goes on to share that, according to court documents, Marrero also has “Marrero has convictions for retail theft four times and one other theft in New York from 1997 to 1999 and retail theft in York County in 1999.”

And…

“She also received 12 months of probation after being convicted of a hit-and-run charge in Berks County in 2009.”

Let me get this straight. She been charged most recently with five felony counts, including theft by deception and receiving stolen property. She’s been convicted four times for retail theft. She’s been convicted of another theft. And she’s been convicted of a hit-and-run.

Now, I know it’s innocent until proven guilty–but she’s been proven guilty of various charges several times already. And now she’s playing for public sympathy and some sort of revenge tactic against mall security? This is not some innocent middle-aged woman who’s had a terrible little mishap. And, note, I haven’t even touched on the fact that she, herself, was responsible for texting and walking simultaneously thereby reaping the wet rewards.

Please, this one is just another frivolous lawsuit in which no injury was truly done. What—Marrero’s reputation’s been wrecked? I think a pretty good rap sheet already achieved that, no? A bit of embarrassment? Hell yeah—that’s what happens when you do something stupid. In public.

And so now it’s another lawsuit that will clog up the media and clog up the courts—just as Marrero is about to pass through them again—as a defendant.

Tags: Berkshire Mall, Cathy Cruz Marrero, Fairgrounds Square Mall, Mall Security, Reading PA, Security

This was posted on Thursday, January 20th, 2011 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Court of Public Opinion, lawsuits, Personal Injury . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.