Courtesy Photo: Safeway Stores
Rachel Decker
The Paw Print
Twenty eight-year-old Nicole Leszczynski and her husband, 33-year-old Marcin Leszczynski were arrested last week and their daughter, 2-year-old Zofia was taken into state custody over nothing more than a couple of chicken sandwiches.
“It was the most ridiculous chain of events that happened,” she said while sobbing Monday. “It’s still hard to believe what happened.”
The family had moved to an apartment near downtown Honolulu from California just two weeks ago. When they ventured out last Wednesday to get some groceries, they took a bus, got lost, and ended up at the local Safeway.
Leszczynski, being 30 weeks pregnant, was feeling famished so she picked up two chicken sandwiches –totaling five dollars altogether- and munched on them as she and her family browsed through the store. She kept the wrappers, planning to pay for them when she reached the register.
Only, the sandwich wrappers slipped her mind as she paid for the rest of her purchase, which totaled fifty dollars.
“When the security guard questioned us, I was really embarrassed, I was horrified,” she said. The couple and their daughter were led upstairs to be questioned. The couple had hoped to be lectured, pay for the sandwiches and then be on their way. But that never happened.
According to Leszczynski, the store managers wouldn’t let them pay for the sandwiches.
“I asked to talk to a manager and he said it was against their policy to pay for items that left the store,” she said. “The security guard said we were being charged with shoplifting.”
A police officer arrived four hours later and he read them their rights. Along with the police officer, a woman from the state Child Welfare Services arrived and took Zofia away from them.
Leszczynski said she did her best to keep her composure until Zofia left. “I didn’t want Zofia to be scared because she’s never spent a night away from us. She didn’t have her stuffed animal. She didn’t have her toothbrush.” She admits that when her daughter left, she became hysterical.
A police spokeswoman commented that it was only procedure to have the child taken away if they are present when both parents are arrested. The store’s management said that they did not know the girl would be taken away. The national supermarket chain said it was looking into the incident.
“It was never our intent to separate a mother from her child. That was a very unfortunate consequence to this situation,” said Susan Houghton, a spokeswoman for the California-based supermarket chain. “We understand the outrage. We are concerned about how this was handled.”
Leszczynski called the incident “so horrifying, it seemed to escalate and no one could say, ‘this is too much.’”
After their daughter was removed from the room, the couple was handcuffed, and then driven in separate cars to the police station. They had their mug shots taken, and then were released after paying bail, which was $50 each. Once released from the police station, they were escorted back to the store –which had banned them for a year- and they were allowed to get their groceries and then walked home just before midnight.
“We basically stared at each other all night,” Leszczynski said. The couple woke up at the crack of dawn and called the child welfare office. After an 18-hour separation, Zofia was returned to her parents.
The couple has a court date in November for petty misdemeanor, and they still have not decided whether they will pursue legal action.
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