Posted on 11/25/2005 12:34:20 PM PST by kenn5
GARY, Ind.
A woman who was robbed at knifepoint while pumping gas into her church's van couldn't believe it when the gas station attendant refused to call police for help.
"I ran, of course, to the nearest place," Gary resident Rosetta Heffner said, recounting Sunday's robbery.
Her request to call 911 was met with silence from the other side of the Citgo station's counter.
She tried again.
The clerk's response?
"Use your cell phone."
Heffner couldn't believe it.
"I thought it would be a safe haven, anything could have happened, and he told me to use my cell phone," Heffner told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville.
The gas station's manager said he was sorry about the robbery, but clerks at the station do not make emergency calls from the front counter, fearing retaliation for criminals.
"We have to be careful," he said. "If we call, then there are problems. They can hear. So we use the back phone. We are always helpful to the customer, but we have to protect ourselves."
Members of the Moving Spirit Church, which Heffner attends, regularly use the gas station to refill the church's vehicles.
At least they used to.
Member Latrell Peterson said the church will take its business elsewhere.
"We have eight vans and three buses rolling every day, but we don't go there now," Peterson said.
They have a policy against making emergency calls?
What idiocy.
What a coward. I hope he needs help and someone refuses to call.
That sounds like the European policy towards terrorist, "don't make them angry."
Get yourself a .38 snub nose revolver next time and blow the next robber away. You cannot count on the police, gas station jockeys, or the sheeple to protect you.
Sincerely, EEE
This brings to mind the example some years ago of Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago. A man was shot in the alley outside of the hospital, not more than 200 feet from the emergency room entrance, and the the staff wouldn't go out and get the guy when asked. Pathetic.
I would suggest the cops investigate the clerk and the clerks family as suspects in the armed robbery. Obviously the clerk was working in collusion with the robber, either a family member or friend.
Makes me wonder if the clerk was wearing one of those stoopid 'don't be a snitch' tee shirts.
Why don't they install a button under the counter like they have in banks if they're so afraid of the criminals?
Isn't it illegal NOT to report a crime committed on your property? Particularly something like armed robbery?
Somebody call up the local ambulance-chaser! This church is in for an oil-company windfall just in time for Christmas!
Walk softly and carry a big gun.
Was the clerk's first name Mohammed?
The question remains; why didn't she make the call herself?
The piece doesn't disclose whether she had a cell phone or not.
I would imagine she would have called if she had a cell phone. The object of the story is why is the owner of this station such a CS a**hole not why she didn't use a non existent cell phone.
I thought it was unwise to turn your cell phone on or off, or otherwise use it at a gas station...
I guess you can tell I don't use mine all that much...;-D
I agree. One bad turn deserves another, and always return evil for evil.
Just remember, when you fight fire with fire, the main thing you get is a bigger blaze.
.
ML/NJ
Guess not having any customers is a good idea.
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