Posted on 08/29/2007 8:16:32 PM PDT by Nachum
Dustin Chester was job hunting Tuesday — a day after The Home Depot fired him and the general manager for thwarting a thief from running away with a pocket full of stolen cash.
Last week, the 24-year-old department manager confronted a man who was standing by a soda machine in front of the Murfreesboro store off Old Fort Parkway holding a crowbar and a wad of cash. When the suspect started running, Chester said his instincts took over.
"When he ran, I ran after him," he said. Chester caught the thief and restrained him in the parking lot until police arrived.
Chester was shocked to find out that for managers and most employees, catching and detaining thieves is against company policy.
"The district manager told me that we are supposed to let thieves walk away; it blew my mind," said Chester, a one-time employee of the year.
The Home Depot said its policy, which directs workers to notify loss prevention specialists or police to handle criminal situations, is in place to protect its employees and customers.
"The associates involved were not following company policy, resulting in this disciplinary action," said Don Harrison, spokesman for the Atlanta-based company. "Safety is a primary focus for our company."
The former general manager could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Chester said there was no loss prevention officer on duty during the Aug. 20 incident and that in his seven years, he'd never heard of the company's policy.
But even if he had known how the company wanted him to act, it wouldn't have made a difference.
"He had a crowbar, and what if he had come inside and gone after customers or the employees working at the registers?" Chester asked. "I'd rather have him coming at me than going after any of the customers."
The suspect was taken into custody and transported to Middle Tennessee Medical Center for treatment. It was unknown Tuesday if he was charged.
So for protecting his "work family" and loyal customers, Chester, an MTSU graduate, finds himself unemployed.
Chester said he wouldn't pursue any legal recourse. Considering how the corporate managers handled the situation, he doesn't want his job back.
"I'm probably better off not working for a company like that," Chester said. "It seems like the company is being run by lawyers, who are worried more about lawsuits than employees.
"A situation like this really shows what this corporation believes in — it's sad that they would do this to two people who were just trying to help out."
Legal problems
But experts say vigilante justice, or making a citizen's arrest, is a legal minefield and that dealing with a suspect's lawyers is often more dangerous than apprehending the suspect.
By making a citizen's arrest, you're exposing yourself to a litany of possible lawsuits or criminal charges, including impersonating police, false imprisonment, kidnapping and wrongful arrest.
Murfreesboro police spokesman Kyle Evans said the best thing for employees or citizens to do is to be a good witness by making observations about the suspect to help in identifying them.
"Property isn't worth getting hurt over — merchandise can be replaced and people can't," he said.
Hows come the illegal invaders loitering in the parking lot of the Home Depot didn’t stop the thief?
This is not new. There have been other reports in the recent past of Home Depot employees being fired for trying to stop a thief.
I worked in retail 20 years- for 3 companies- from asst. manager to district director. In every company they are clear- do not confront or chase shoplifters or thieves. No exceptions. The biggest reason is because of possibility of injury to the employee, but also, because the law regarding shoplifter apprehension is very strict, and the possibility of the employer being sued by the shoplifter is very high.
Yeah, there was another story about two months ago posted here in which a Home Depot employee was fired for running down a crook. I guess everything’s on sale, 100% off, at Home Depot these days.
if you think about it,times have changed.
where i live in socal there are a lot of illegal aliens, drug users, and criminals.
while stopping a shoplifter you might encounter one of these.
the results might endanger you, other customers and staff.
....This is not new. There have been other reports in the recent past of Home Depot employees being fired for trying to stop a thief....
One of the reasons I don’t go there anymore.
In other words, you aren't good enough to defend yourself - The State shall take care of your needs.
God forgive Amerika.
Reminds me of the stories I was reading on this forum of people at Walmart. Watching customers commit criminal acts, and the employees not doing anything and pretending not to notice.
We were blaming it on low morale, but it appears they could lose their job if they do anything.
We desperately need tort reform like all the other industrialized nations have, so our companies don’t need to worry about being sued every 5 seconds.
So making a citizen's arrest is the dame as "vigilante justice"? Who knew?
(I do agree that lawyers can be more dangerous than criminals—although sometimes it is a distinction without a difference.)
By making a citizen's arrest, you're exposing yourself to a litany of possible lawsuits or criminal charges, including impersonating police, false imprisonment, kidnapping and wrongful arrest.
And we wonder why people will not intervene to stop a violent crime in progress.
Ah! That must be why their CEO’s can make off with such large amounts in their pockets.
We are losing the police, too. I always thought that if we, the people ever needed to really exercise our 2nd Amendment rights, the police would be with us. I guess I was wrong.
Legislators need to fix the laws so that people like this cannot be fired or sued.
So, it is open season? I walk in, take what I want and leave?
Don’t pay, don’t tell.
This was on the news tonight, and they announced Home Depot’s policy of not stopping shop lifters. Mr G and I wondered how long it would be before shoplifters declared open season on HD.
Oh, and they are not charging the guy (read criminal) who was stopped.
and isn’t it a sorry fact that ‘criminals’ have the right to sue anyone for anything after they have been caught doing something illegal.
Sad, very sad.
I was thinking that this would be a good reason to not shop at Home Depot, but maybe it really IS.
I mean, if they really don't care if you pay for the goods or not.....
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