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Subscribe to RSSA suspected shoplifter died early Sunday after a confrontation with Walmart employees and a security guard in the store parking lot in Lithonia, Ga., WSBTV reported.
According to the DeKalb County, Ga., police report, officers arrived around 1:30 a.m. to find the employees on top of the middle-aged man, who reportedly was caught shoplifting two DVD players. When an officer placed the man in handcuffs, he noticed the man didn’t resist him. That’s when he realized the man was unconscious and bleeding from the nose and mouth, according to WSBTV.
Paramedics transported the man to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Further investigation revealed that a “physical altercation” had taken place in the parking lot, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. One of the employees had reportedly placed the man in a choke hold. The cause of death, however, has not been determined.
Dianna Gee, a Walmart spokeswoman, released a statement Sunday saying that both employees had been placed on paid leave. She said the security guard would no longer provide services for the store.
“No amount of merchandise is worth someone’s life,” Gee said in the statement, according to the Journal-Constitution. “Associates are trained to disengage from situations that would put themselves or others at risk.”
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I am curious what makes people turn something like this into a political arena. I will only say get some therapy for them . On the other hand there is not a soul alive nor a security guard that isnt aware a choke out is illegal. I might as well cite the case law. This time it will be crimnal because they have already visited this stupidity as well. Pensacola Florida. Escambia County Pays out 12? or was it 24 million dollars. I think 12 where a deputy working in the pshyciatry ward choked out a patient thinking he was a judge mandatory admitance . It was discovered and never condoned the action although he used the excuse. I beleive it may have sparked some criminal case law that will find someone charged with manslaughter but the civil side is definitely a no brainer. Wal Mart will be liable...... escambia county was held liable. The attorneys name was Bednarr who won the case. People should call their insurance companies but I can only see them back peddling as this type of behavior is not condoned anywhere and you cannot blame the USC just like we cannot say playing ledd zeppelin backwards recites the name satan and gives people the inclination to be evil. If the deceased has family Wal Mart shares are going to take a hit after the settlement. I am sure there are appropriate attorneys contacting them presently.
1) no security officer is 'obliged' to do a thing when witnessing theft. Our motto is 'observe and report' and we are 'allowed' to make a citizens arrest just as any citizen can.
2) this is an 'alleged' theft.
3) anyone putting someone in a 'choke-hold' for a non violent crime is just power hungry or a cop wanna-be.
2/3 of the sec officers I worked with were people who couldnt make the written test grades as a cop (and that isn't much).
sunny
since you do not have any idea how bad the altercation was, you don't know how much force was needed.
If the @!$%# for brains would not have stolen the items he would still be alive.
THINNING THE HERD.
He allegedly stole the items U2mac. I have had altercations with store employees that attemted to stop me before. It pissed me off immediately i told them to F off and get the cops here. They grabbed me and then i proceeded to show them my rights (they did not subdue me). When the police arrived i was cuffed and was detained. When i produced my reciept and told my side of the story i was released and asked if I wanted to press charges. Moral of the story is there are people that are on power trips and people that assume that you have stolen when you have not.
u2mac: NO force is necessary. if it got that bad he could walk away-if he's a crook he'll be caught eventually; if not this crime, another. many times i let someone go rather than risk my life or harm to others. we arent cops! we r citizens like any other.
I think Walmart should sue the family of the person who stole. It was a crime no matter that the person died. My option is... Thank God for stepping in and saving us all that money it would have taken to process this in the courts. I am sure he would have needed a free attorney.
"Dianna Gee, a Walmart spokeswoman, released a statement Sunday saying that both employees had been placed on paid leave."
Boy, that has to be a consolation for the employees involved-paid leave. Poverty wages and no requirement to work..........just the threat of criminal charges to think about while you're drawing your $8/hour sitting at home waiting for the boom to drop. I'm sure WalMart's policy manual will have something in the print that will absolve them of any criminal or civil responsibility in this case.
Sadly, this case may be a metaphor for the dysfunction of a society where the aristocrats are allowed, rewarded, and honored for suppressing the poor. Off with his head, except he's already dead.
CRY ME A RIVER YOU HUSSEIN LOVING OCCUPY WALL STREET PUKE.
Nobody made them get a job there.
“Associates are trained to disengage from situations that would put themselves or others at risk.”
Apparently not.
let say i worked for walmart training what training lol..your lucky you got your paycheck
HELL YES IT IS, The S.O.B. should have thought about the results of stealing before he picked up the DVD players. Damn it people (who want to steal) you have got to learn to leave stuff alone that is not yours.
Good job employees and security person, Now watch for the next one stealing.
The consequences (if you can read that word) of stealing are likely a FINE--not the death penalty.
Maybe you should be shot on the spot next time you go 3mph over the speed limit.
steve
The reason who we continue to have people stealing is that the penalties are not harsh enough.
Speeding (a crime) is not the same thing.
This moron made a choice to steal and then to resist, to bad. That will be 1 less thief in this country.
I hope he wasn't black and the employees white.
u2
What makes shoplifting worse than speeding? Speeding can kill, shoplifting affects corporate profit.
So shoplifting is worse? Are you kidding me??
@ Steve
Are you retarded? Shoplifting losses cost stores large & small millions of dollars every year. Then stores raise the prices on the items they sell to you & me & everyone else to cover those losses. Do you think corporations just say "Oh well, it's no big deal we lost a pile of money in theft this year" & just let it go? Are you that stupid?
Theft of all kinds ends up costing everyone more in the form of higher prices for goods & services. Why don't you use your brain & think a little bit.
Slackr
I know that, but that doesn't give them the right to kill someone over it. Can you think that deeply?
Perhaps he just "needed killing". Approximately 28% of Dekalb county's population does.
GREAT! I think this is what every shoplifter should get! Why is it that this is a crime that goes without punishment. If we contintue to slap the hands of shoplifters, then they will continue. I say "beat the crap out of them for their wrong deeds". It wasn't like he was stealing food, but two dvd players. Yup, he needed these to survive! Come on, give the Walmart employees a break, they probably even had to work on Thanksgiving Day. They were a little upset about working longer shifts...they had to take out their frustrations. No better place then on the body of a shoplifter...I just love it....Way to go Walmart employees...where can I go to bail you out of jail?
Next time you are pulled over for rolling through a stop sign, the cop should pull you out of the car an put a bullet in your head.
Punishment fits the crime, right?
@ Steve
Wow, you really have a problem with cops don't you? How long have you been a criminal? I bet you have a rap sheet a mile long.
slackr
According to your logic, I'd be dead now were that the case!
Reading some of these posts..I wonder if i live in the middle east or if these posters switch there bias religion to Islam..
I have a idea. When you go shopping PAY for the merchandise like the rest of us. If the dude wouldn't have stolen he would still be alive. Or maybe not. Not only was he stupid but greedy. If he would have only taken one player maybe he could have made a getaway. Good thing this isn't China or Saudi Arabia. The security guard would have been armed and he would have been shot to death. Some people just don't get it. Must have gone to public school.
How nice hey lets kill people for walmart cheap chinese crap I'm done with walmart and will only buy American from now on. People stop the darn stealing if you cant buy it you don't need it. For gosh sake buy American.
Or at least steal American. That will provide more opportunities to make new ones. Jo b security.
@ ellie
Good luck buying American made products. Looks like you're going to have to live without a lot of items if that is all you are willing to buy.
Not really you just have to look it's all our fault for being lazy.
Another reason to be well armed when shopping at Wal-Mart.
Either way, some POS's family just wrote their rags to riches story. Wal-Mart will pay them forever. All over 2 DVD players. At Wal-mart pricing, that was probably under a hundred dollars. What a waste.
If someone breaks into your home, that kind of violence against them is understandable -- you are defending or protecting yourself and your family. But the value we have placed on all those "MADE IN CHINA" pieces of crap where we kill to protect CHINA's BOTTOM LINE is messed-up. Wal-Mart does not need to worry about two DVD players. It will gouge us all on every item we actually pay for and make up for their "loss" many times over. The whole notion of American lives being worth nothing should be exclusive to the government officials who want to pretend they give a damn about any of us. Where did I wake up today?
80% of shoplifting is done by employees. It's a fact of retail, and yes, losses are accounted for when pricing.
This person was killed by Walmart employees who clearly were out of hand.
The 2 DVD players likely cost the store less than $20 each. Not exactly worth someone's life--thief or not.
An employee should never put themselves in that situation. We dont need vigilante employees. As stated by the spokesman merchandise is not worth someones life. The employees put the victim in danger as well as themselves. As a former supervisor at a Walmart store, they are trained to not put their way into harm, which obviously was what they did. As for the security guard it really was only his job to question the suspected thief not the Walmart employees. So I do believe they did not best represent Walmart and for that need to be suspended if not terminated from employment. As for criminal charges that will be left up to the city if they want to follow through with that.
Correction: I meant they did opposite of what is trained and put themselves in harm's way.
Walmart employees are horrible people - I'll never shop there again.
bob
I will shop there even more.
In your little world, maybe we should just reward the sh.tbags and encourage them to steal more.
Problem solved.
Soon you won't have to worry about that. The Obama Socialist Republic of America will be sure that you have a DVD player for every room and TV in your house as part of your entitlements absolutely free just for living here, oh yeah, and voting to reelect him.
"Walmart employees are horrible people - I'll never shop there again."
Yes, every single person who works at Wal Mart is a horrible person. You know this because you have visited every store and met every employee right? Yes, I am sure there are some horrible employees, but I would bet that the vast majority of Wal Mart employees are good decent people.
Whoever goes to work for walmart even if their security paid by them is stupid to do their bidding. If you see a shoplifter or suspect, Just observe and report. Defend yourself if attacked but don't go on the offense. Let the cops do their job. Do you really think walmart won't fire and hang out to dry anybody working or contracted by them.
Cops are too busy raising revenue for the city to go after actual criminals. If you want' to take a bite out of crime, you have to do the biting yourself. Walmart should hire veterans, Marine snipers, to deal with shoplifters. Just set up on the roof and pop those sheet heads as they try to get away with the goods.
I bet he was a union thief. One less Obama voter.
he should have not took somthing from the store.
can you say millions and millions law suit for a dvd player how sad the guy lost his life.....
Lots of comments....mmmm..maybe getting more facts might be the way to go with this situation....It seems alot of people like to form an immature opinion..I guess that is why we have such a messed up society..
Some of these posts are so heartless, and the thought process is brainless. I worked in retail for many years in the past and the first rule is you never ever confront a suspect. All the merchandize is insured and regardless a life is not worth 2 lousy DVDs. If someone’s life was in danger then I can understand self-defense; however, if any of these employees or security guard caused this man’s death by excessive force I hope they are held
accountable for their actions. They are not cops and it’s not their duty to confront and subdue thieves. The police should have been called right away with the description of the man and let them handle the situation. I hope they can sleep at night knowing, wow I feel great, we killed a man for stealing 2 DVD’s.
Do we even know if he lost his life b/c of the guard? Next we'll find out he was all hopped up on some kind of drug. Let's not be so quick to judge. The guy wasn't stealing food for pete's sake, he was taking a dvd player, they had a right to take his a** down.....it's s e c u r i t y, get it?!
Obviously, a person's death is not to be taken lightly but how about this... DON'T STEAL!
In case a lot of you posters don't realize this....every time something is stolen from a store, the prices go up for us honest people. "WE" pay for the shoplifting!
I don't condone what was done...way overboard if the story is correct. But we don't know if it correct or not. I'll wait for the facts to become available!!
Crime doesn't pay! There are enough natural disasters in our world whereas there is NO reason to put yourself in a position where you could encounter bodily harm....Precisely what this CRIMINAL did and he paid the ultimate price.
"Dianna Gee, a Walmart spokeswoman, released a statement Sunday saying that both employees had been placed on paid leave."
Wow, paid leave must be of great comfort to the WalMart employees involved. Poverty wages without having to work is a great consolation to them, I'm sure. Of course, WalMart's army of attorneys will point out multiple violations of company policy on the part of the employees involved, will summarily fire them after an appropriate waiting period, will work to deny them unemployment benefits as they were fired for misconduct, and will hide behind corporatism as a defense when a culture of aggressive intervention in shoplifting cases is revealed.
Sadly, this is a good metaphor for the dialogue going on in this country about corporate greed versus societal responsibility and it couldn't have played out better than to include the Walton family's raping of America. I'm sorry someone lost their life in this incident. How many WM workers lose their life everyday because their employer refuses to buy products in America, prefers the sweatshops of the far-east over American-made goods, and refuses to allow employees to work enough hours to qualify for health benefits?
Really, Kevin, two VCR's?
Wow, You must have worked for Wal-mart sometime in your life. 100 % accurate.
No, I've never worked for them. I'm old enough to remember when people in service and production industries were paid well enough to allow them to help grow this economy. The wages paid to them allowed those workers to buy homes, to buy second cars, to go on vacations and spread a little money there, to afford dental and healthcare for their kids, even to buy second homes on the nearby lakes, The communities prospered, main street was doing well, the property tax revenues from new home sales helped to finance the schools' expansions......commerce fluorished and the economy was strong. Then, the union busting came in. (Check out P-1149, Oscar Mayer, Perry, IA). You want to know why we have a problem with immigrants? This once flourising community now has to conduct classes in Spanish, has seen its tax base erode, Many celebrate the "inclusion" of the Hispanic community into their local economy. Those who have been around a while, bemoan the decision to lock-out the union and will point to that decision as the beginning of the demise of, a once vibrant, community. The Hispanics are welcome here. The corporatists and those that will rape the less advantaged should suffer the judgment of the masses.
When CEOs of organizations, some of whom have been bailed-out by the federal government, now call upon cutting the social safety net to protect poverty wage earners that has been necessitated by their own greed that they now look to in order to blame their excesses of greed, it is time to return to America the promise. The promise that, in return for a honest day of labor, we are paid an honest and equitable wage. That we look to as an opportunity to reach the Amercian dream and the promise that our children will have the same, or better, opportunities afforded us. That dream is not possible when one, or two, percent of the population controls the riches of this great democratic experiment.