6.06.050 Willfully Concealing Unpurchased Merchandise; Exoneration from False Imprisonment

Any Indian willfully concealing unpurchased goods or merchandise of any store or other mercantile establishment either on the premises or outside the premises of such store, shall be presumed to have so concealed such article with the intention of converting the same to his own use without paying the purchase price, and the finding of such unpurchased goods or merchandise concealed upon the person or among the belongings of such Indian shall be evidence of willful concealment. Persons so concealing such goods may be detained in a reasonable manner, and for a reasonable length of time by a merchant or a merchant's employee until arrival of the police or other duly authorized law enforcement authorities who shall have been promptly notified of the fact of such detention. Such detention by a merchant or merchant's employee shall not render such merchant or merchant's employee criminally or civilly liable for false arrest or false imprisonment, provided that said exemption shall not apply if the merchant or merchant's employee shall fail to sign a complaint and testify at a legal proceeding, if requested to do so by the prosecuting attorney.