Pearland, Texas – A 70-year-old Army veteran has been fired from a Houston-area Home Depot after trying to stop suspected shoplifters from taking thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise.
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KTRK-TV in Houston reports that Jim Tinney says he was fired last month from the store in Pearland.
Tinney says he was trained to not confront shoplifters and knows he violated company policy, but that his military training just kicked in when he noticed three men attempting to steal tools. He threw a paint roller extension pole toward the suspects’ feet. The men escaped.
The Home Depot said in a statement that only trained company security personnel can pursue and engage shoplifters, citing the safety of customers and associates.
A Pearland Police Department spokesman says he has no information on the shoplifting case.
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Information from: KTRK-TV, http://abclocal.go.com
His military training taught him to follow protocol, and not to act outside his authority. He brought this on himself.
Just what Hillary would love.
I have to agree with Yonasonw, regarding this matter. There have been too many cases of not only store employees, but also store rent-a-cops acting outside of their authority, and falsely arresting and/or detaining customers,when they had no legal right to do so. For example, there was a horrible incident in 1990, at a local Meijer store, in Columbus, Ohio. A middle aged accountant had gone into a Meijer store looking for a specific battery. He brought a sample of the battery which he needed with him, as it was not a common make. He could not find the battery he needed, and placed his own battery in his pocket. Two idiotic store guards saw him,and confronted him outside Meijer, and accused him of shoplifting. When he protested, they physically assaulted him, grabbed him by his neck, and threw him on the ground. They stated that they were acting in compliance with Meijer’s “pain compliance” policy. As a result of the assault, the poor victim was left as a quadriplegic. He sued Meijer; fortunately, the assault was witnessed by a Columbus Firefighter, who testified at the trial. The was awarded $12.5 million. Meijer appealed, but they lost.
To #7 - What difference does it make if the example which I gave was from 17 years ago, or five years ago? The point that I’m trying to make is that the same mentality which existed in 1990, exists in 2017, vis-a-vis private store security guards, or store employees. They are not police officers, and many times, their authority goes to their heads. Incidentally, regarding the 1990 Meijer incident, they brought in their top legal guns from Cleveland, and tried to blame the victim, and tried to discredit the testimony of a Columbus Firefighter, who had a spotless reputation. None of their legal tactics worked, as the jury saw the case for what it was. It was two brutal, young hoodlum store guards, who beat a middle aged man, over a 50 cent battery, which belonged to him! At that time, it was the largest civil award of its kind, in the history of Franklin County (Columbus), Ohio. Incidentally, no amount of money would have replaced what they did to that poor man, as he was totally paralyzed, and had to have help for the rest of his life, which was shortened, due to his injuries.
why didn’t he just call security?