Family celebrating non-verbal daughter’s birthday at Universal are escorted out of park over shoplifting ‘misunderstanding’

A Florida family says a misunderstanding involving their autistic daughter led to them being kicked out of the Universal Orlando’s Epic Universe theme park on suspicion of shoplfting.

Nikki Daou, her husband, and their daughter — who is nonverbal and has autism — were at the park on December 27 celebrating the girl's seventh birthday.

Before arriving at Universal, Daou registered her daughter with the park's disability access program, according to News 6 Orlando.

The family spent several hours at the park and eventually visited a gift shop themed after the iconic Nintendo character Mario.

Daou told the outlet that her daughter became very excited about a Mario keychain. Before they could pay, the gift shop reportedly began to fill with customers. The crowds made Daou's child overwhelmed and irritable, so Daou removed the girl — and the keychain — from the shop while her husband waited behind to pay.

According to Daou, her husband removed the tag from the keychain so he could have the checkout worker scan the item. The keychain reportedly cost $16.

She told the outlet that Universal security guards approached her shortly after she left the gift shop and accused her of shoplifting.

“I felt very scared,” Daou told the broadcaster. “I immediately started crying.”

She said she tried to explain the situation to the guards and noted that her husband was still inside the store waiting to pay for the item. Despite giving her account, she was escorted to a security office for further questioning.

The park's security eventually called the Orange County Sheriff's Office, which dispatched deputies to the park. Daou was informed that she and her family would be escorted off the park's property. Universal later reportedly warned the woman that she was being banned from the park for a year and would receive a fine in the mail.

Daou's attorney, Eric Block of Morgan & Morgan, told News 6 Orlando that he sent a demand letter to Universal accusing it of overreacting and failing to take the girl's special needs into account.

“They didn’t apologize or acknowledge that this was a misunderstanding,” Block said. “Instead, they sent a demand letter for money, accusing her of retail theft.”

The Independent has requested comment from Universal.

The Daou family said they are not interested in trying to coerce a financial payout from Universal, and said they hope the company will rectify the misunderstanding by training their staff on their own Americans with Disabilities Act policies.