Dramatic twist as popular fruit shop owner is finally vindicated after being brutally pepper-sprayed by cops along with his teenage son for posing in his underwear in front of an Aldi ad outside his store
- Greek shop owner and his son pepper-sprayed
- Police thought the shop owner was a flasher
- He has always maintained it was mistaken identity
A popular fruit shop owner who was pepper-sprayed by police has finally had his charges thrown out after claiming he was the victim of ‘mistaken identity’.
St Bernards Fruit and Veg Market owner John Kapiris shared extraordinary footage of the confrontation at his Adelaide business last year.
Police visited his business after receiving reports of a man exposing himself in the area.
Though the incident was kilometers away from Mr Kapiris’ store, cops found him in his underwear outside and began questioning him.
This triggered a heated confrontation with the officers eventually pepper-spraying Mr Kapiris and his 15-year-old son.
The shop owner has always maintained that he was the victim of mistaken identity and had done nothing wrong.
Mr Kapiris said he had been carrying out a funny skit to promote his business and had left his underwear on.
On Tuesday, Mr Kapiris’ story was finally vindicated when police prosecution opted not to proceed with the charges against him.
St Bernards Fruit and Veg Market owner John Kapiris shared extraordinary footage of the confrontation at his store
Police had launched an internal review into the incident last year but have not commented on the latest development.
Mr Kapiris told the Adelaide Advertiser: ‘I was arrested for basically wrongful identification.
’12 months in court lumbered with huge lawyer cost plus loss of business. We lost a lot of customers over this because they didn’t believe our story.’
He previously told Daily Mail Australia he had been not been in the vicinity of the reported incident but acknowledged he had been staging photos for his famous ‘dropped-pants specials’ in front of a Aldi sign recently erected in front of his business.
The popular shop owner is known for the amusing skits, where he takes his trousers off to entertain customers – but always leaves his underwear on.
Mr Kapiris explained he was wearing underwear while staging the photos.
He was charged with a series of offences including indecent exposure, disorderly behaviour, resisting police and refusing to provide his name and address.
He said at the time: ‘I’ve been wrongly accused of a crime that I didn’t do,’ he said.
‘They thought I was the suspect but our cameras will show I was here all day.
‘I was being nice to them at the start but they didn’t want to listen and started pushing me. That rubbed me up the wrong way.
‘I have the upmost respect for police but what they did was very unfair.’
The footage shows an officer demanding him to place his hands behind his back and begins pushing Mr Kapiris.
Mr Kapiris’ story was finally vindicated when police prosecution opted not to proceed with the charges against him
The business owner’s 15-year-old son is seen rushing to his father’s defence as the pair are pepper-sprayed. The boy can be seen running away wincing in agony
He had been staging photos for his famous ‘dropped-pants specials’ in front of a Aldi sign
The business owner’s 15-year-old son is seen rushing to his father’s defence as the pair are pepper-sprayed.
The boy can be seen running away wincing in agony.
‘I would have rather been zapped with a taser rather than be pepper-sprayed,’ Mr Kapiris told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Three days later, my hands are still burning.
‘It left me very shaken. I suffer from very bad asthma and anxiety.
‘I thought I was going to die.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk