The Wal-Mart Shoplifter

Of course there are quite a few eyewitnesses who have the story different. He was struggling while someone had their knee to his neck because he was on scalding pavement and couldn't breathe. Eyewitnesses say he yelled that he was dying and pleaded with them to call an ambulance. Not to mention, his family's attorney claims he wasn't shoplifting.

If they would've let the police do their job, he wouldn't be dead right now. All they had to do was follow him out to the car and call the police.

 

BTW, link to story: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3303871

Security experts discourage the aggressive tactics used by Wal-Mart employees who struggled with a suspected thief who later died.

"Most retailers have a policy of not going into a chase or getting into a combative fight with someone," said Joseph LaRocca, vice president of loss prevention for the National Retail Federation.

Wal-Mart's corporate office on Tuesday refused to discuss its procedures for detaining and using force against shoplifting suspects in wake of the death of Stacy Clay Driver, 30, on Sunday.

Driver, of Cleveland, was chased by employees after he left the store in the 6600 block of FM 1960 East with items they said he stole. Four employees in the Atascocita Wal-Mart wrestled Driver — who was shirtless at the time — to the ground and struggled with him on the hot pavement for 10 to 30 minutes, witnesses said. He stopped breathing and later died at a Humble hospital.

"Most retailers' policies would say that if a person becomes combative, let them go," LaRocca added. "You can tell police, and let the police handle the investigation and follow up."

LaRocca said he is not familiar with Wal-Mart's shoplifting policies, but the chain has a large "loss-prevention" department dedicated to reducing profit "shrinkage" by shoplifters and each Wal-Mart store has loss-prevention employees who monitor and confront suspects.

Harris County sheriff's Lt. John Martin said employees struggled with Driver for some time before they could get him under control in handcuffs. While in handcuffs, he continued to struggle until he stopped breathing, witnesses said.

The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office has not released an autopsy report yet. Martin said the autopsy is complete, but coroners are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

"If they determine the death was caused by the action of employees, that would obviously take the investigation in a different direction than if he had a heart problem," Martin said.

Jim Lindeman, an attorney for the Driver family, said the man had no serious health problems.


Sticker switch alleged
Store managers told investigators that Driver entered the store with items marked with a stickers showing he had purchased them, but then he walked into a restroom and placed the stickers on different items — a BB gun, diapers, sunglasses and a pack of BBs — before walking out.

When witness Charles Portz saw the employees struggling with Driver on the parking lot pavement, he did not see any of the alleged stolen items but the sunglasses.

"That's what got my attention, the employee kicked him in the back of the leg, knocked him off balance then they just threw him down to ground," Portz said.

LaRocca said that most shoplifting suspects, when confronted by store employees, will not flee or become combative. In most cases, suspects will turn over merchandise and wait for police.

Christi Gallagher, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, declined repeated requests to discuss the retail chain's techniques for apprehending and detaining suspected shoplifters or whether it permits use of force against suspects. "We don't speak publicly about our security measures," she said.

Ralph Witherspoon, president of Witherspoon Security Consulting in Cleveland, Ohio, said there should be less of an incentive to pursue and struggle with suspects who do not take merchandise with them.

The International Association of Professional Security Consultants recommends that retail security personnel do not strike, tackle, sit on a suspect, or engage in any contact that might cause physical injury.


Danger of asphyxia
"No merchandise is of such value as to justify physical injury to a suspect," the association states in its "Best Practices" section of its Web site.

Witherspoon always informs his clients that struggling with combative suspects can lead to death by "positional asphyxiation."

"This can happen when someone is on top of a suspect who's face-down with hands handcuffed behind their back," he said. "This prevents them from breathing, and they suffocate."

For the past decade, the International Association of Chiefs of Police has warned against the dangers of positional asphyxia, and many police departments have re-evaluated use-of-force procedures because some suspects have died in struggles.

Witherspoon said the issue is especially acute among retail loss-prevention personnel because they don't have the same training as police officers.

Texas law allows store employees to make a citizen's arrest as long as they have cause to do so, said Chris McGoey, president of McGoey Security Consulting in California,

"You can use 'reasonable' force to recover merchandise or detain a person long enough to summon police," McGoey said. "As a rule of thumb, you don't want loss-prevention people tackling people and wrestling people onto the ground, and you certainly don't want them chasing people into parking lots."

He also is unfamiliar with Wal-Mart's policies, but he thinks the country's largest retailer would strictly prohibit chases and physical combat.


Going after shoplifters
The company, however, is widely known for its aggressive prosecution of shoplifters, said Sgt. Jeff Stauber of the Sheriff's Department burglary and theft division.

Its aggressiveness also has led to a number of civil lawsuits for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

LaRocca said retailers lose just more than $30 billion annually to "shrinkage," which includes shoplifting and lost products. A typical store loses about 1.5 percent of its profits as a result of shrinkage, he said.

 

I tell my wife that if someone is 35 and still driving a civic, life has not been kind to that person. I'll add shoplifting at Walmart to this category as well.

As always: Don't commit a crime and don't run from the police.

 

...and watch him drive away as the police take 30 to 60 minutes to get there. No. That doesn't work.

I wasn't there. I don't know what really happened. But it sounds as if the securty guards were following the correct procedures and that this was an accidental death. Security people in this situation have a difficult line to walk - they must apprehend shoplifters, which requires physical force (and even more force to get the big guys), but they have to be sensitive to the rights of the people they are apprehending. We can't expect security and police to make a mad face at thieves and expect them to stop.

The fact that he was screaming that he was dying means nothing. Anybody who has ever watched Cops has seen almost EVERY guy complain that they're getting their necks broken, and if the cop lets up at all, there's a strong chance he'll run.

The big question is, "Was excessive force used?" Since we weren't there, we don't know. If they just took him to the ground and put their knee on his head, then no, it wasn't excessive, and it was an accidental death. If the security guards were beating up on the guy, then yes, it was excessive and they should face the consequences.

 

I'm sorry to be so macabre, but is anyone else seeing a great Seinfeld parody here?

Wal-Mart CEO - How are our fourth quarter earnings looking? We need a big quarter to please the stockholders.

Wal-Mart Analyst - Not so good.

CEO - Why?

Analyst - There was shrinkage.

CEO - Our profits shrank?

Analyst - Like a frightened turtle.

 

I'm sorry but there is nothing wrong with being older than 35 and driving a Civic. I am not that old yet nor do I drive one but this is a very judgemental comment you made.

 

Mega lawsuit in 5, 4, 3...

 

Earl will f*** you up.

 

Ali G: So was you trying to say that you don't like Japanese cars?

 

I'm surprised that someone wearing "The Rock" t-shirt wasn't able to use one of his awesome wrestling moves to get out of that situation.

 

I wasn't going to post about this, but this guy was a close relative of a good friend of mine. There are a lot of eyewitness accounts that have not gone into this story and a lot of backstory to this that would change your perspective. Some of the eyewitness testimony was disturbing at best, disgusting at worst.

I'm not going to go into detail here, but there is a very good chance that the guys who held him down will be arrested and stand trial. This was excessive force beyond a shadow of a doubt and more of this will come out as the days go by.

 

Sounds like you and your wife have a very interesting dialogue together.

 

I was in Wal-Mart of the Christmas holidays getting stuff out of layaway, and one of the managers came over there with 5 empy DVD cases she found in the bathroom. I don't blame the employees for trying to get that guy, thefts take away from the bottom line and that could mean people losing jobs there also because idiots stealing stuff.

 

Just a follow up here...

The Chron story from yesterday had a lot more detail to this, but just paraphrasing it, there were something like 30 eyewitnesses. The security guys ripped his shirt off trying to tackle him and held him face down on the asphalt while he screamed that he was burning. A number of witnesses including an attorney interviewed by the Chron said that the growing crowd pleaded with the security guards to let him up after they had him cuffed.

On guard kept his foot pushed down on the suspect's neck while another pushed the weight of his entire body into him with his knee directly into his back.

A Wal-Mart employee even brought a rug out to lay the suspect on so he wouldn't burn on the pavement and security refused to use it. Witnesses said that they continued to stand on him until he stopped breathing. They then did nothing until witnesses screamed at them that he wasn't breathing.

It took them 10 minutes to call for an ambulance at that point according to eyewitness statements. EMS arrived in 2 minutes (according to their logs) and rushed him to the hospital. EMS staff said that the security claimed they tried CPR on the suspect, but they found no evidence of that and no witness saw them do it.

When EMS arrived, he was face down, motionless still on the concrete with his hands cuffed behind his back and his fingers were gray from lack of oxygen.

 

Hey, Conan O' Brian drives a mean 92' Ford Taurus.

 

Huh, you have too much faith in cops.

There was a tragedy of similar nature occurred not long ago in Cincinnati -- the only notable differences were 1) the victim was 350-pound black man with some serious health problems, 2) the aggressors were local police.

 

This is exactly what's told to most employees of stores for this very reason.

 

That is one bizarre statement. Ironically Sam Walton was worth billions and drove a beat up pickup truck and wore a blazer he bought from Walmart. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your statement, but if not, read the "Millionaire Next Door". If I'm misunderstanding, then ignore this post.