The legal woes facing a Toronto store owner who made a citizen’s arrest of a shoplifter were reduced Tuesday.
The Crown dropped two criminal charges against David Chen, the owner of the Lucky Moose Food Mart in Chinatown.
“Two of the four [charges] have been withdrawn including the most serious, which is kidnapping, as well as the carry concealed weapon, which I always said was a ludicrous charge and I’m glad that’s been withdrawn,” Chen’s lawyer Peter Lindsay said outside the Old City Hall courthouse.
Chen was carrying a box cutter, which he said he uses to open produce boxes, when he made the citizen's arrest and that's why he originally faced a concealed weapons charge.
Chen will go to trial in June 2010 to face the other two charges of assault and forcible confinement.
Anthony Bennett was caught on tape in May stealing $50 worth of plants from Chen’s store. When he returned an hour later, Chen, his brother and nephew chased him down, tied him up and put him in a delivery truck.
The store owner said he intended to hold the man until police arrived.
Bennett has been convicted of shoplifting and is now the victim in the charges against Chen.
Lindsay said Chen should’ve never been charged in the first place and will be arguing that his client acted within the legal parameters of a citizen's arrest.
Chen was reportedly expecting all of the charges against him to be dropped Tuesday.