National Interest
Mall Worker Who Fell in Fountain Threatens Legal Action, Has Criminal Record
By Diane Macedo
Published January 20, 2011
| FoxNews.com
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A Pennsylvania woman who fell into a mall fountain while texting and became a YouTube sensation when video of the fall went viral, didn't just towel off -- she lawyered up.
Cathy Cruz Marrero, a 49-year-old Berkshire Mall employee, appeared on "Good Morning America" Thursday with her attorney James Polyak and said that someone should have helped instead of making her a national laughing stock.
"I didn't get an apology, what I got was, 'At least nobody knows it was you,'" she told GMA. "But I knew it was me."
Polyak told Pennsylvania’s Reading Eagle that an investigation is in the works to see if there will be a suit and to “hold to the appropriate persons accountable.”
"We are troubled by the fact that anyone at the Berkshire Mall responsible for releasing this video would find humor in an employee injured on the premises," Polyak told the Eagle, even though Marrero herself conceded, "It's funny."
The security video -- which has now been shown countless times on television and passed around on Facebook and Twitter -- shows Marrero sending a text while walking through the Berkshire Mall, completely oblivious to anything in front of her -- including the giant fountain.
U.S. Security Associates, the company that provides security at mall, announced Thursday that a security guard responsible for sharing the video had been fired.
"U.S. Security Associates does not condone this type of behavior and will work closely with the property owners to ensure processes are put in place to prevent it from happening in the future," the company said in a statement.
Still, criminal defense attorney John Manuelian says Marrero has no grounds for a lawsuit.
"In order for her to sue she's got to have certain elements. You have to have a duty; you have to have causation; you have to have damages; you have to have a breach of a duty. There's no breach by the mall, the security, or anybody. She was just texting and not paying attention," Manuelian told Fox News.
But trial attorney Brett Nomberg says the issue isn't whether the accident was her fault or not.
"The reason this is in the news is because someone in mall security though it was funny to put it on YouTube and why did that happen and how did that happen, that's what the embarrassment is here," Nomberg told Fox News. "...she made a mistake, but there was a second mistake here."
Assistant District Attorney Melissa J. Noyes says falling in a fountain wasn't Marrero's first mistake. The born again Christian currently owes $4,177 in restitution for charges she allegedly made to a co-worker's credit cards, Noyes told the Eagle.
"She is still on track to enter a guilty plea at some point down the road assuming she complies with all the conditions," Noyes said. "She's looking for house arrest instead of going to jail."
Marrero also has several theft cases and a hit-and-run charge on her record, the paper reported.
Polyak denied accusations posted on various websites that Marrero staged her recent spill in hopes of financial gain.
"For that to be true, she would had to have known this was going to be posted to YouTube," he told the Eagle.
Marrero said she hired legal representation and went public with her identity because she wants to highlight privacy and security problems at the mall and teach people, especially kids, about the dangers of texting while walking.
Marrero is expected be sentenced in her credit card theft case on April 21, the Reader reported.
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Mall Worker Who Fell in Fountain Threatens Legal Action, Has Criminal Record - FoxNews.com
