A man who says he was battered and falsely arrested by a security guard when he went to the Grove to protest the appearance of Paris Hilton during her book signing in 2023 has filed an amended complaint including photos of the alleged encounter with the guard.
Peter Lecki’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit names multiple defendants including Caruso Management Co. Ltd., A.F. Gilmore Co., GFM LLC, Critical Solutions-Protective Services LLC and one of the latter’s security guards. Lecki alleges civil rights violations, negligence, violation of the state constitution, false imprisonment and false arrest.
Lecki seeks unspecified compensatory damages as well as punitive damages against the guard. On June 3, Lecki filed an amended complaint with two color photos he says depict the encounter with the guard walking toward him as well as a third photo showing the guard’s patch identifying him as working for Critical Solutions. Lecki’s suit states that one of the photos showing an upper view of the confrontation was obtained from the mall’s own security footage.
In their previous court papers, attorneys for the defendants state that the location where Lecki wanted to protest was not a public forum and that therefore the guard’s response was lawful under state law.
According to Lecki’s lawsuit, the San Mateo County resident was trying to peacefully protest the wearing of animal fur by making his views known during a March 22, 2023 book signing at Barnes & Noble by Hilton, who the suit states “wears fur despite the animal cruelty concerns with its production.”
Lecki, carrying protest signs and a banner while also pulling a loudspeaker on wheels with the sounds of animals being skinned alive, was walking at the intersection of Gilmore Way and First Street, about a block from the book store, when a security guard employed by Critical Solutions stepped in front of the plaintiff, pushed him back and told him to leave or be arrested, the suit alleges.
When Lecki refused to leave, the guard “grabbed and manhandled” the plaintiff, purported to make a citizen’s arrest and took him to a detention center in the mall’s basement, the suit states.
Knowing there was no lawful basis to arrest Lecki for trespassing, the guard told police after they arrived that he had detained the plaintiff for battery, convincing them to take Lecki to jail, the suit states.
However, Lecki’s body-worn camera showed he was the victim of a battery and not the guard, according to the suit, which was originally brought in March 2025.
The guard never told Lecki to refrain from using amplified sound, to stay in a particular area or to conduct his protest activity in a manner that would have allowed him to remain, but the guard instead “categorically ordered Lecki to leave the Grove so that he could not engage in any free speech or protest activity whatsoever anywhere at the Grove.”