Arrested at work by the CEO

Jurisdiction
California
Earlier today I was handcuffed by the police and questioned at work.

Background:

I'm a janitor at a technology company in San Francisco. I usually work nights. With the coronavirus going on I like many others have a mask on.

My boss wanted me to come to work to clean even if there's going to be a mandatory quarantine that took place at 12:01am in San Francisco.

I came to the office, noticed the CEO was there. When I see ppl still in the office, I wait outside and play around on my phone or read a book until they are done. I peaked my head into the office every hour or so to see if he was done. 6pm, 7pm, 8pm. The 3rd time I did it I guess it spooked him seeing me with a mask on, even if me and lots of others are wearing masks. I go back to sit in the bathroom and kext thing I know cops come in to arrest me. They handcuff me, search me for weapons. I'm questioned. I tell them I'm a janitor here.

A cop stays by me and questions me, another 2 go question the CEO. One comes back and says I walked out with computer equipment and search my backpack. I have a laptop in there, my laptop. They ask me the password and questions about my laptop which i answer because I know the stuff as it's my laptop. After a while it seems the cop can see I'm not lying.

They make the CEO come to apologize. He shows me his phone and shows me the video of me sneaking into the office. Sure I have the mask on, but he was trying to claim I picked up some computer equipment and walked out with it, which I for good reason did not see on his video. They tried to play it off like one big misunderstanding.

Yet, the thing is at this office, it seems they keep trying to put me in situations like this tog et a bad reaction from me to have grounds to fire me. Multiple employees at this company tell me I should look through their fridge and and see if there's food I want to eat. I know many startups in silicon valley will invite guests to have a snack. But as a janitor, it's one of those things where they can use it against you if they want to. A lot of times employees will try to get a reaction out of me to see if I'm hitting on them. (I used to always be trying to talk to women at the bars when I was younger and ppl still try to get a reaction out of me to most likely use against me).

In regards to being wrongfully arrested. Can I take legal action against the company?
 
In regards to being wrongfully arrested. Can I take legal action against the company?

The way you describe it, mate, you were questioned.

You weren't arrested.

The police investigated a complaint, you cooperated with the investigation, and the police had the complainant apologize to you.

Your wisdom in cooperating made the issue moot.

No harm, no foul, however if you're being mistreated it might be time for you to secure employment where you're treated more kindly.
 
In regards to being wrongfully arrested. Can I take legal action against the company?

It doesn't sound like you were actually arrested. It sounds like you were detained while the cops checked things out and then released when the realized you hadn't done anything wrong. Sounds like a talk with your boss and/or someone in HR is in order, but that's about it.
 
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