Mother of teen beaten by mall security files lawsuit

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The mother of a teenager who was repeatedly hit by local mall security on Saturday has moved forward with legal action in hopes of having the three guards arrested.
 
Chavella Hamm, through an attorney, has applied for a criminal warrant against the three men accused of hitting and punching her 15-year-old son at the Stonecrest Mall in Lithonia. 
 
The name of the 15-year-old in the video has not been released because he is a minor. He attends counseling sessions because of the altercation and suffered a major cut above his eye among other physical injuries, according to his mother. 
 
"He's scared," said Hamm. "He's traumatized by this, this is a very horrific situation by three adult men."
 
Hamm and her attorney, Mawuli Mel Davis, are pursuing felony child cruelty charges against the three security guards. The men remain suspended without pay from their security company and banned from working at the Stonecrest Mall in the future.
 
The incident began Saturday evening just before 7 p.m., according a DeKalb County police report. Witnesses told an arriving police officer that security guards were using profanity while escorting a group of minors out of the mall because of curfew hours. The teen who would later be hit by security guards took offense to what was being said and then a verbal altercation began, and a security guard threw the first punch, according to witnesses.
 
DeKalb County police tell Channel 2 Action News they are pursuing battery charges because investigators received conflicting information about who was the "primary aggressor."
 
On Monday, Channel 2 Action News reached out to the security guard accused of starting the fight but he was not home.
 
"What was they did was beyond unprofessional conduct," said Davis. "It was actually criminal."

WSBTV