[Loomis]

Last night I saw some interesting confrontations between so-called exotic car owners and private security at an upscale mall. The mall had invited a car club to display cars until 10 pm. Meanwhile, they had music and dancing in the main mall street. All in all, a pretty pleasant evening in that the mall's demographic and the fact that it isn't served by the ghetto train (light rail) keeps the riff raff to a minimum.

Anyway, around 9:00 some of the drivers got antsy and wanted to leave. The private street was still blocked off and full of people dancing and milling around. The head mall cop and a Ferrari owner exchanged words, and eventually the Ferrari was allowed to leave as people made way for it. However, a few minutes later a Lotus tried the same thing and the mall cop marched toward it with his flashlight held over his shoulder and aimed into the guy's windshield a pretty aggressive cop-like stance. After a few words were exchanged, the Lotus driver backed down and retook his parking place.

So, morally speaking, I think if you sign up to go to an event that lasts until a certain hour, you should fulfill that obligation and stay put so as not to ruin it for others. However, from a legal standpoint, I would have told the guard to go pound sand. He has no right to detain someone unless it's pursuant to a citizen's arrest for a Penal Code violation. There was no contract between the driver and the mall owner, nor was the driver violating any laws. He was simply trying to leave the premises, which happened to be moderately choked with people. Correct?