The plight of small businesses facing adversity took a disheartening turn in Oakland, California, as the owner of the Snail Bar, Andres Giraldo Florez, shared a distressing encounter with the local police. After his establishment was robbed, the Oakland police, rather than offering support, handed him an invoice for their response.
In a conversation with City Council candidate Chris Moore, Florez expressed his frustration, stating, “It is literally the definition of kicking someone when they are down.” The police arrived an hour after the robbery, only to secure the premises with a piece of wood and duct tape. The subsequent invoice for their response added insult to injury, with Florez highlighting the financial strain of the incident and the impracticality of expecting more funds for the police intervention.
“It is literally the definition of kicking someone when they are down,” Andres Giraldo Florez, owner of the Snail Bar in Oakland, California, told City Council candidate Chris Moore after Oakland police gave Florez an invoice for responding to a call that his store had been robbed.
“They came one hour after we got robbed,” Florez explained. “And after one hour that we got robbed, they walked through and they put a piece of wood up with duct tape.”
“This thing cost me thousands of dollars to fix already,” Florez continued. “And them thinking that we have enough money on top of that to give them some more for coming through and checking out what happened. Seems so irrational.”
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