The founder of Pride Stores, the truck stop chain that has been in the news after two truckers found a video camera installed in the men’s bathroom, has come forward to take responsibility for the camera – but says that the media has it all wrong.
Two truckers contacted a lawyer after they found what appeared to be a video camera in the men’s restroom at a Pride truck stop in Massachusetts. According to Pride, the truckers’ lawyer, Zoe Falken, then reached out to local media and “created totally exaggerated and incorrect stories about the camera and Pride.”
After the social media storm that was kicked up almost immediately, the founder of Pride Stores, Bob Bulduc, released a video in which he explained what happened.
In the video, he explains that the camera was placed there in an attempt to catch a vandal who had been repeatedly writing hateful messages on the bathroom stalls and that the camera was “not an an invasion of anyone’s privacy.”
According to Richard Hoffner, the Director of Operations for Pride, the vandalism amounted to “hate crimes,” and he said in an interview with WWLP 22News that “it’s the worst I’ve seen.”
Falken, the lawyer who brought the story to the media’s attention in the first place, says that after reviewing the footage on the video camera, her clients will not be pressing charges because Pride did not break any laws. She did however say that “it was a case of bad judgement by Pride security.”
The following is a partial transcript of Bulduc’s statement:
“I want to take full responsibility for the situation and tell you the facts,” said Bulduc. “As you know, we work hard to keep our stores clean. In fact we pride ourselves in having the cleanest stores – including our restrooms – in the area.”
“Several weeks ago we found hateful language written on the stalls of our Chicopee truck stop. We would clean the graffiti, and the next day it would be there again. We felt we were fighting a losing battle, and customers were complaining about the messages of hate and bigotry that were scrawled on the stalls nightly.”
“Since the messages were criminal, I suggested that we temporarily relocate a security camera to an area of the men’s room that did not invade anyone’s privacy, and from which we could get a photograph of the violator, and we would then turn it over to the Chicopee police for prosecution…”
“The camera was in full view of everyone, it was not hidden, and was not an invasion of anyone’s privacy.”
“The problem arose when someone reported the camera to an attorney. That attorney went straight to the media and created totally exaggerated and incorrect stories about the camera and Pride. Worse, in this digital and internet age, the untrue stories were circulated within hours. No one verified the facts before spreading them.”
He went on to compliment the “legitimate media” for doing their best to correct the situation.
Source: masslive, wwlp, masslive
Video: masslive
Image Source: Pride
Look to your employees being underpaid . Not happy with management. However it was wasn’t dumb enough to leave message in front of camera . Come on . You must think people are stupid to.
That “attorney” should go back to law school and pay attention to her professor’s this time around. As well, the Bar Association might consider having a look at her performance in this situation. Mr. Bulduc did everything correctly from start to finish, but it only took some hothead to almost ruin a good reputation.
I think anyone that marks the walls of buildings or bathroom walls or stalls are childish. They should grow up join a ART CLASS if they want to paint trash on things
Well they at least came up with a story to save their hide for having a camera in the men’s room.
How were they going to catch the vandalism if the camera didn’t show anything? This guy is lying out of his azz and everyone believes him. I don’t because the film can be easily edited to show what the truckstop wanted to show the public. What a Joke!
If one employee of the truckstop would go in after the suspect leaves and would find the writings again its one way to narow down ,,the writer”
But the camera would prove the writer entering ,exiting and the employee checking
So if that’s the case then why not mount it OUTSIDE the restroom pointing towards the bathroom door….if it’s the same vandal like they suspect then it shouldn’t be hard to figure out the same person coming in and out every night. They say the camera was in the restroom but didn’t record in any stalls so how would that be any different than pointing it at the door from the outside?
I would need to see the camera’s field of view before I would have a worthwhile comment on the owner’s response. I cannot remember ever being in a Pride truck stop but I would say I hate graffiti and especially hate filled graffiti because I do not like a coward who cannot say things to your face. I especially do not like one who thinks his words of hate are so vital that the public MUST be exposed to them.
Considering the ridiculous amount of hate-, bigotry-, and ignorance-filled scribes I see and have seen on stall walls all across the country, I’m actually with the store owner on this. I know in this day and age everyone gets testy about camera lenses–but if one ain’t doing nothing one has no business doing, in a restroom or otherwise, then there should be no issue. I believe he really did want to catch whoever kept defacing his property (which by the way is a property crime punishable in court), so if that’s the measure he had to resort to, then good on them.
Now as to whether it was the two truckers or the attorney who “twisted the story out of whack” is anyone’s guess since the story doesn’t specify–nor does it specify what it was they told the media. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it was all a plot just to come into some $. The problem with that, though, is this: the moment one makes an accusation against another, the entire burden of proof then falls on the accuser–or prosecutor–to prove said accusation BEYOND THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT. If one cannot faithfully make that cade, one shouldn’t even try.
Actually, civil cases are held to a lower burden of proof, “preponderance of evidence”.
I agree with you Brandon.When customers complain and the time and money to clean up the hate graffiti gets costly. something needs to be done. It should not happen in the first place but there is no accounting for bigots and stupidity. .
A danged shame that the asshat wasn’t caught. I am sure that the camera was not aimed to see some one hold them selves to pee or in a stall. But to catch a full face shot as they enter the rest room only.
I guess this means that the idiot with the marker is free to continue. Hope he gets caught and pays the price.
The cameras are placed in open areas not deemed to be necessarily private. In hotels and even in the best occupants have been charged for lamps irons pictures ect. And it’s on film believe me.
Never the less! It’s still invasion of privacy!
One crime doesn’t cure another!
I’m for anything to stop the needless vandalism or mess that goes on inside the mens room. They steal towels, mirrors, paper holders, anything they can and some also like to make a paper mess. Human scum!
I have always wondered what the vandal got out of the act of writing grafitti. My kid used to write and draw on the wall, but then she turned 4 and outgrew it. Are the vandals trying to show us that they are perpetually 3 years old (mentally)?
It takes a really weak mind to deface other people’s property.
Well said.
Yes vandalism ,yet hate speech is protected even in the church as recorded by reverend wright.confidentially many restrooms and hotel rooms have cameras to record thefts or crimes.
I hope you listened to the entire sermon before you passed judgement. I thought the same way until I heard the entire thing. I also heard his explanation.
The explanation sounds legit, especially considering how easy it is to hide cameras in bathrooms rather than install them in plain sight.
This is the same dude that went to have a leak and decided to pull the partition between the stalls off the wall. I stop there just about every day and according to a clerk that was the last straw before the camera went in.
Actually you can say what you want words or even written words even if horrible can’t be prosecuted as hate crimes?, sorry they can’t, so they can’t prosecute for the content however they can for vandalism or destruction of private property.
I wonder what type of camera they used. There’s no mention of it anywhere in this article.
Whoever installed those camera make us as of truckers/customers whoever not involed in ur bussines matters feel too much stranger man, we are here feeling being monitoring by government already enought due “good reason” but now yo/futuremore have ur own good reasons too? Come on man, if you CANT managing/controlling ur bussiness then just closed, we dunt wanna be a victim of ur bussiness matters.
I thought they were recently redoing one of the Pride stores in Chicopee. If this is being done regularly by a patron, then it is either a local route driver, or a regular customer who comes in. Now the person will go away.
Also, it’s smart to open the bathroom door using a paper towel. I use one to dry my hands then I grab the door handle with it.
The Massachusetts Bar allows lawyers to publically attack businesses without checking facts? Disgusting.
disbarred a year later
Unbelievable,