A VERY SURPRISING INCIDENT INSIDE A RETAIL STORE IN AUSTIN IN WHICH I VERY CAREFULLY PROTECTED MY CREDIBILITY AS THE CRIMINAL-LAW COMPLAINANT AND CITED VICTIM IN AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT SEX CRIMES CASE 20-3161213

 

I am very grateful this Thanksgiving that I politely said "no" to the male high school student or possible college student--himself apparently of Far East Asian ancestry, I observed ---who approached me this week inside a retail store (name withhold from this particular account, though I will gladly share the information with any government law-enforcement agency that inquires about the incident) in northwest Austin and on his own initiative stated to me:

"Have you been on Tik Tok? You look very familiar to me."

I then replied politely that I have never been featured on Tik Tok.

The teenage male high school student then stated to me:

"Would you mind if I took a photograph of you standing beside me here inside this store?"

I replied politely that I would have to decline. "Maybe if I got to know you better, I might let you take that photo," I added for the sake of politeness, referring to a well-lit public context in which I was fully attired, as I was inside that store, and the context was strictly-platonic, of course.

I did not want to hurt that high school student's feelings, and I sensed that possibly he was a paying guest in one or more of the restaurants where I have worked in the past or where I currently work. I value having good credibility with my restaurant-industry employers for being consistently polite to members of the general public during my off-duty hours---many of whom may have been actual recent paying guests inside one or more of my three respective current restaurant-industry workplaces in Austin.

To make doubly sure that I did not offend the male high school student in any way, I then politely volunteered to him inside the store that "I am a current criminal-law complainant (with the Austin Police Department)" as another very solid reason why I myself DID NOT want to be photographed standing next to an under-age male person who is a complete stranger to me.

It occurred to me as I made that accurate statement about my being a complainant with APD that a criminal-defense attorney might attempt to attack my own credibility as a witness for the prosecution in a sex-crimes case courtroom proceeding in Austin. The defense attorney might claim to the jury and judge that I had allegedly been photographed "socializing" with one or more minors during my leisuretime.

That same defense attorney might also claim to the judge and jury in that courtroom proceeding that I myself allegedly had possible unsavory ties to an alleged organized-crime group or alleged human trafficking group with alleged possible connections to a Far East Asian country, that defense attorney might also insinuate or allege in person before the judge and jury.

I should emphasize here that I of course have no factual evidence of any type indicating that the male youth who approached me inside a retail store in Austin this week had any alleged possible ties to any organized-crime group. I assume, of course, that his own intentions and lifestyle were fully honorable and law-abiding.