Boston security guard who allegedly threw and attacked 11-year-old shoplifter pleads not guilty
Both Mohammad Khan, 36, and his employer, Securitas Security Services, face assault charges.
A Boston security guard accused of attacking an 11-year-old girl who shoplifted from the clothing store where he was working pleaded not guilty in Suffolk Superior Court Tuesday.
Mohammad Khan, 36, of Cambridge, and his employer, Securitas Security Services USA Inc., both appeared in court after they were indicted by a grand jury last month on charges stemming from the alleged assault.
Khan is accused of using “excessive and unreasonable force” to detain the girl, who officials say admitted to taking several items totaling an estimated value of $175 from the Primark store in Downtown Crossing on June 9.
Prosecutors allege Khan, just over six feet tall and weighing 225 pounds, grabbed the girl “by the head and neck and threw her to the ground, punched her in the face while straddling her as she was on the ground, and even after being separated from her by Boston Police, re-engaged in struggling with her.”
Official said the incident happened after Khan, a special police officer, pulled the girl into the store and pushed her into a corner, blocking a closed-circuit security video camera.
“Both the security guard who was present and the CCTV operator were ordering Kahn to stop,” Teniola Adeyemi, a Suffolk County assistant district attorney, said in court Tuesday, WCVB reports.
The girl was not charged with shoplifting, officials said. Authorities were prevented from doing so because of her age under state law.
Arraignment for security guard Mohammad Khan happening now #WCVB pic.twitter.com/Js1WhZvNqz
— Matt Reed (@MattReedNews) December 17, 2019
An investigation found that Khan had been previously reprimanded at least four times for “using more force than permitted by Securitas and for violating protocol,” prosecutors said last month. He had “explicit orders” not to touch any customer, officials said.
Khan and Securitas both faces charges of one count of assault and battery on a child under the age of 14 and one count of civil rights violations (unreasonable force).
Both defendants pleaded not guilty Tuesday, according to WCVB.
Khan repeatedly said, “No comment,” as reporters asked him questions while he left the court house.
Prosecutors did not ask for a cash bail in the case, the news station reports. Khan was ordered to have no contact with the girl.
Last month, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office said it believes prosecutors have met the thresholds necessary to prove Securitas is liable in the case.
Those include showing that “an individual committed a criminal offense, that the individual who committed the offense was involved in a corporate business, and that the individual was vested with authority to act for the corporation with respect to that business,” officials said.
On Tuesday, Securitas attorney Paul Kelly said, “It’s a very rare thing.”
“It happens, you know, maybe once every few years, but there is law that allows for it,” Kelly told WCVB. “Whether it applies in this case remains to be seen.”
A trial date is set for Sept. 21, 2020.
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