Universal Sued Over Alleged Harassment

Honor student and Boy Scout Henry Helmer Jr. found himself detained, interrogated and, he says, humiliated and harassed at Universal Studios, accused of stealing sunglasses that, it turns out, weren’t even offered for sale at any amusement park souvenir stand.

He claims he was singled out solely because he has brown skin--he is of African-American and Filipino descent--and because he was wearing earrings and homemade baggy pants.

“Based on how I look, to have people think, ‘He’ll steal something,’ it’s disturbing,” Helmer said. “That this kind of stuff still happens . . . that’s an outrage.”

Contending that his civil rights were violated during the incident last May, Helmer and his family sued Universal last month. At issue, the family’s attorney said, is whether park employees discriminate against minorities because of the color of their skin or the style and color of their clothes.

“Universal’s harassment of this young man and his family had nothing to do with conduct, only with appearance,” lawyer Sally Kilburg said. “We feel it was a close encounter of the illegal kind.”

A spokeswoman for the park, Joan Bullard, declined to comment on the suit. “We don’t believe in trying our cases in the press,” she said.

The case, filed in Alameda Superior Court, exemplifies a tension that surfaces with some frequency at California’s amusement parks, several of which have been hit in recent years with lawsuits alleging discrimination.

The parks go far to promote an atmosphere of wholesome and safe family entertainment. Critics allege that they sometimes go too far, denying admission to would-be patrons they identify as suspected troublemakers--when that identification is based on race, appearance or mannerisms.

Six Flags Magic Mountain, the Valencia-based amusement park, has been a particular target of criticism.

Sparked by a 1985 melee involving three San Fernando Valley gangs, Magic Mountain has adopted a screening policy that relies in part on “profiles” of suspected gang members to keep out weapons, drugs and alcohol. Park officials say the policy has been effective. Civil liberties groups allege that the profiles unfairly stereotype minorities.

Bullard said Universal Studios has no such screening policy. Nor, she said, does the park single out minority youths for special attention from security guards. “There is no such policy,” she said. “Never has been. Never will be.”

Helmer, however, said that guards accused him repeatedly while he was detained of being in a gang. “It scared me,” he said.

The incident, according to the lawsuit, took place during a trip in May, 1993, that had been planned as a family vacation to several Southern California amusement parks. Helmer, then 19, had just returned home to San Francisco from his first year in college.

The trip began with a visit to Disneyland. At an Anaheim hotel, Helmer bought a pair of gold-rimmed sunglasses with violet-tinted lenses. They cost $6, he said.

Two days later, on May 22, 1993, Helmer, his younger brother and their parents arrived at Universal Studios. Park staff took a photo of them entering the park--with Helmer, then 19, wearing his new tinted shades, his earrings and his baggy pants.

A few hours later, Helmer went browsing in a souvenir stand. When he rejoined his family at a nearby cafe, he was suddenly confronted by security guards who accused him of stealing a pair of sunglasses, according to the lawsuit.

The store clerk said that the violet-tinted glasses were the stolen shades, and identified Helmer as the culprit, the suit said. Security guards then walked Helmer across the park to a detention center.

“I felt like a complete idiot,” Helmer said. “I was embarrassed at the whole situation. Here I was, surrounded by all these security guards, off to the detention office with all these people looking at me, like, ‘Look at this criminal, he got caught, ha ha ha.’ ”

Several hours later, Helmer said, a park merchandising official informed guards that the $6 violet-tinted sunglasses could not have been stolen because the souvenir stand did not carry that model. With that, he said, he was released.

“It looked as if they were disappointed to let me go,” he said.

As the family made its way out, according to the suit, words were exchanged between a security guard and Helmer’s younger brother, Zelman Helmer, then 16. The guard looked like he was going to hit the younger brother, and said to the father, Henry Helmer Sr., “You better get your boy out of here before there’s trouble,” according to the suit.

The suit alleges violations of Henry Helmer Jr.’s civil rights. It also includes claims of false imprisonment, assault, infliction of emotional distress. It seeks unspecified damages.

Named as defendants were Universal City Studios Inc., the company that runs the park; parent corporation MCA Inc., and American Protective Services Inc., which the suit identifies as the firm that provides security at the park.

Lawyers for American Protective Services did not return a call seeking comment.

The suit was filed May 20 in Alameda Superior Court because the security firm is based in Oakland, Kilburg said.

Park officials offered the family free passes for a return visit, Henry Helmer Sr. said. “We just threw (the passes) out,” he said.