I was at Kroger's grocery today and saw a male security guard really manhandle a young teenage girl. He slammed her against a wall, pushed her head into the ground and forcibly restrained her. He also forcibly searched her purse and patted her down. She was not resisting at all, but was protesting being assaulted.
He was in plain clothes and I had no idea he worked for the store until he told me. I was going over to assist this young lady who was no older than 17. I was going to punch this guy in the jaw. It was the most out of line thing I've ever seen.
I stuck around and told the police, but they just seemed to think that I was a nuisance. She had $18 worth of merchandise which as I understand it is a class C misdemeanor. The cop told me that it was "not her first time" and that "once she left the store it became robbery." . I told the cop he was out of his mind. I stated that the mere fact that I took 20 minutes extra out of my day to tell him how outrageous this woman's treatment was should tell him something.
How should I have handled this? What are the legal implications? Can these guys just manhandle you any way they want, or is there a "reasonableness" clause in the law?
This was just plain ridiculous...very upsetting. I'm 6'6 and on the upside of 400 pounds. I can guarantee this security guard wouldn't have approached me like that.

