This is not about the guilt or innocence of a customer who was being stopped by a security guard, or whether or not she should have been stopped. I am not in a position to know the answer to either of these two questions.

This is about the excessive force used on a woman and the lack of care given an infant who was within arm's length of their struggle.

On our way into the store (Feb. 6, 2011 afternoon) we watched as two security guards stopped a woman, presumably for shop-lifting. She attempted to continue walking. One guard pulled out handcuffs and grabbed her arm. There was a struggle, during which she tried to return to the supermarket, saying that she would wait for the police. It was clear however that she did not want to be handcuffed. So what? She had stopped and stated that she would wait for the police.

This could have been the end of it, with the security guards handling it very professionally. Just stand there and wait. They were twice her size. She was overweight and of small stature. There was a child at her side (about 2 years old). There was no way she was going to get around them. However, he attempted to handcuff her anyway and forcibly bent her arms back. After a good deal more struggling and shouting, he finally got the cuffs on. It was all very sloppy and awkward.

During the whole struggle her infant was very close and neither of the two guards paid the slightest attention.

I complained to the store manager about the excessive use of force. The manager justified it -- and with an attitude that suggested that this is how things are done here.

After my wife and I consulted with each other, we decided that we would file some sort of complaint with upper management at whole foods. I went back to get the manager's name. She gave it to me. I asked the security guard for his name and he refused. The woman who had been arrested/detained lifted up her hands to show where the skin on her wrists had been torn. It has been about 20 years since I have made a complaint like this … anywhere.

I could not readily find a means of registering a complaint directly with whole foods, except by writing directly to our local whole foods store … meaning that my email might end up with the same manager again. I decided to use this complaint web site instead.

If this woman was a shoplifter, it would not be surprising to find that she would display poor conduct; I would expect however that the whole foods organization would show greater civilized behavior than what I witnessed today.

This was our last trip to Whole Foods.