Having worked in law enforcement, there is a lot of information missing from the story. First, the information was taken from the mother’s law suit complaint, which is hardly an unbiased record of events.
Most of the time when a store such as Target, WalMart and others call the police, it is to transport the suspect to jail.
The store’s security officer fills out a report, calls the cops and when the cops arrive they have two options. If the amount of the theft is a misdemeanor, they can check the subject for additional warrants, and if there are some, then transport the subject to jail.
If the suspect has no warrants, the police may have the option to issue a summons to appear at a later date.
Since this subject was employed as a cashier, it is possible Target had him on tape dipping into the till. Because of his medical condition and his confrontation with another employee earlier, the police may have been there at the outset to insure there wasn’t a disturbance when the subject was confronted by Target loss prevention.
As for the handcuffs. Most departments have procedure that an individual being transported is handcuffed to make sure he doesn’t escape or become a safety issue for the transporting officer. Even with a shield in the car, our department procedure called for all suspects to be handcuffed.
As for not being charged, it is possible the young man committed suicide before the prosecutor filed charges. The store security is responsible for filing the affidavit, not the police. Usually, if the amount is high enough to be a felony, it would require talking with a prosecutor.
As I said, there is too much missing from the story. A good reporter would have pulled the crime report (which accompanies the suspect) to get the FACTS of the case rather than rely on the plaintiff’s complaint (lawsuit) which is always written in such a way as to cast the defendant (Target) in the worse possible light.
Wow, thank you, I really appreciate the in depth information you provided.
I too think there is information omitted here.
Further, it does not seem to me that this incident as reported in this story describing his arrest at Target and then his later release without charges at the police station would result in his jumping to his death three days later.
I can’t reasonably see where that could be the sole cause of such an action.