Walmart workers fired after disarming a robber ?

[Pardini]

You would be surprised how many companies will do the same. The vast majority of corporations all have the same policy.

I have a friend that was canned from his job as a grocery store checker for chasing down a kid that ran out the door with a bottle of liquor. No one got hurt, just grabbed the kid and the bottle. Kid was arrested, he lost his job. The company never told any of the employees that there was such a policy and eventually the union got him a settlement, but only because he forced the issue big time. Never got his job back though.

 

[captain]

Plausible deniability

thats horse****, fired them for real, that is a crock of ****, what if they had followed policy and backed off, and the first person the gunman would of seen was the person who fired them and put one in his head on the way out the door, i bet he would of wished they stopped the gunman then

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[Fate]

If put in that position and felt my life was in jeopardy and there was a chance I was not coming home to my family or someone else was in mortal danger and the opportunity was there to disarm the assailant, I would do the same and so would most. Screw company policy. Would rather be fired and alive then dead. It seems obvious this was not about saving some money for Walmart.

 

[x-d-x]

I say good job. Give them a raise.

+1 I doubt they had any idea that what they were doing was bad. Disarmed the criminal......but your fired?

 

[coreywiley]

If the guy pulled a gun on me and I thought my life was in danger and I know I could do something about it then I would screw walmart.

 

[Chemmy]

I can shed light on this actually. I am loss prevention at a Wal-mart.

Rules are simple, we get no hand cuffs, no zipties, other words, no means of restraining. Some dude a year ago or less had a 13 year old girl handcuffed because she was a scratcher, she spit on him, he lost it, threw her against the wall......=end of handcuffs.

Another store, Loss prevention officer and his boss, got into a fight with two people that were robbing walmarts across the country and injured three people and caused about 10k in damages, (broke a soda machine when they dropped it on the guy) was a pretty cool fight to watch though.....= no more physical contact.

We are supposed to kindly redirect or let people go but mostly are there as a deterent for people not to steal. For those that posted and think that we are only supposed to go after lame ducks.....the week before I left I got into a fight with a crack head, I never hit him only detained and he was arrested for assault and unarmed robbery. 15y in prison. Some stores depending on the circumstances will allow certain things to take place. In my case it was straight up self defense cause he swung at me when I approached him.

I admit that I walk a fine line between getting fired and doing my job and I think what saves me everyday is the local sheriff's office praising me to my boss with the detail i provide with cases. I havent lost one yet with the DA.

We are so restricted on what we are and are not allowed to do but truth comes down to it that thousands walk out that door everyday and most stores are only working with one person walking the floor.

I am not proud of my job at times because I have had to call social services once or twice because it is a felony to involve your child while shoplifting(and you wouldnt believe how many people do this).

Bottom line is with this guy, I would have had the cops on my phone and followed closely only doing what I needed to to prevent injury. I am writing this before reading the articlle but if the guy was just armed and was going to shop then he is not in violation of anything. If he is carrying a gun and looked like he was going to use it.....There is little I could do anyways.

 

[BenWoj42]

Same policy for banks. Guy behind the counter caught the guy who robbed him and was later fired for doing so.

 

[Chemmy]

Ok I read the article now and have different veiws.
First off the guy was shoplifting before they knew he was armed, so no fault there they did there job correctly up to that point.

Second, the guy was stealing a computer, high dollar item, the cops should have been called before they even stopped the guy(personal experience)

Thrid. Why he was given the oppurtunity to go for a gun once in the office is beyond me. They are supposed to get the merchandise back before they get into the store, and then with four people in the office they should have had positive control on the guy as far as someone always standing infront of him watching.

Fired for it........that is iffy but policy is policy and I have seen people get fired for less and worse.

Bottom line is multiple things went wrong here but all AP offices are at the front door, to be honest if the guy didnt shoot first then he 90% would have walked out the door without causing a scene cause he didnt want to go back to jail so if no cop presence was there then he would have walked. They could have gotten his license info and gave it to the cops. This is difficult to say what exactly I would have done but I know in my store it wouldnt have gone down this way.

 

[Sum Beach]

If... the suspect has a weapon or brandishes or threatens use of a weapon; all associates must disengage from the situation, withdraw to a safe position, and contact law enforcement. -Walmart policy


"Moments after he pulled out the small laptop, the workers say Longton also pulled out a handgun and charged toward the closed office door. Ray, Richins and Stewart were in the way. He grabbed Stewart as his way to get out.

"He looked right at me and said, 'The gun is cocked. C'mon guys, just let me go. I don't want to do this,'" Shawn Ray recalled.

The four believe their quick actions to disarm and secure the man helped prevent what could have been a tragic event. They held the man until a police officer arrived, who wrote in his report that the gunman was taken to the ground in his and citizens' "best interest and safety."

"I was thinking, 'Whose house am I going to tonight to tell their family their loved one was shot?'" Poulsen said. "You have to make a decision: Do I fight for my life or do I stand here and watch?"



This guy was unable to follow Wal-Mart policy because he was physically detained by the assailant and had a gun to his back.
Bet that wont come up in a lawsuit hearing.

 

[busabeast]

i think the guys did right- you could spend a lot of time on what ifs and maybes, but what it comes down to is these guys did the RIGHT THING, i think thats too uncommon in todays society- give em a prize, they the good guys...

 

[chrisjp]

no job is worth my life....and thank you walmart for advertiseing an open door policy to theft..... morons!!

 

[captain]

I have no doubt that the employees did the right thing... If you look at wal mart execs they are right now sitting around a conference table I'm sure thinking to themselves "That was a save."

1. No one was killed
2. We are able to make it all go away because we have a policy
3. No lawsuits for wal mart from customers because the employees they fired saved lives...
4. There are plenty of people looking for jobs so the ones that were fired won't be missed...


WIN WIN WIN for WalMart

 

[busarocket]

This is "nukin futz"...

 

[m_ridgeway]

no job is worth my life....and thank you walmart for advertiseing an open door policy to theft..... morons!!

this is how they operate too. its really rediculous. i worked for a wal-mart for a short time while going to college. they explicitly tell you not to chase, confront, attack, etc etc people committing crimes such as stealing.

ive seen people get into a fight at the store i worked at and i was pulled by management to help break it up. technically we both couldve been fired but its a giant slippery slope.

on a side note my brother worked at an albertsons. some 20 something guys stole some beer and his co-worker chased them. he was met with a gun and was killed. over some beer. sad deal. i would hope more of the policies were to prevent this sort of thing from happening and companies cant condone "vigilante" type activity, morally right or wrong.

imho they (employees) did right.

 

[cqt1414]

While what they did was commendable, they violated strict company policy by engaging an armed assailant. Corporate policy was not adheared to. What if things went the other direction and these guys got hurt? Someone would be shot and Wal-Mart would get sued. I realize that this doesn't seem fair however rules are rules.

"corporate policy" "strict company policy" "get sued". sometimes HUMAN instict takes over and people do what is right. We (people) are not robots chief...