Posted on 04/09/2008 12:05:10 AM PDT by seacapn
BROOKLYN, Ohio -- Have you ever put a case of water or something heavy under your shopping cart and then forgotten about it?
A Cleveland man did, and it landed him in jail, television station WEWS reported.
Tom Sturgis has a long receipt showing the $157.20 worth of two grocery carts full of groceries that he bought at a Brooklyn supermarket Saturday night. After going through the self checkout, Sturgis said he forgot a $4 case of pop under the cart.
(Excerpt) Read more at whiotv.com ...
Oh, yeah. Got us a real, live Dick Tracy, right here.
The man was still on store property and they charged him with theft?
Zero tolerance policy adherent!
Just to get this out of the way before the Law & Order Freepers arrive.
“Lock him up, throw away the key. “
“Good thing our LEO Heroes got this Thug off the Streets”
“Today he tried to steal a case of coke but tomorrow he will be dealing kilos of coke to kids in elementary school.”
“The Death Penalty would be to good for this guy. I was we draw and quarter him with four Pepsi Trucks running on high octane Ohio Ethanol.”
What the story doesn’t say is did he go through a regular checkout line with a cashier or did he go through on of those lemme-stand-here-and get-the-crap-confused-out-of-myself self checkout abominations?
If he went through a regular line, it’s their responsibility to make sure everything was accounted for. Her cryin out loud, it’s not like he had a case of soda stuffed into his coat pocket.
If he went through the do it yourself line, they MIGHT... MIGHT be able to make a case that it was intentional.
The man didn’t pay for the soda. You know it isn’t like a bank robber can get caught and say, “sorry, I will return the money”. It isn’t like he is an illegal invader and can be merely sent back (if we are lucky) to try again.
Crossing our borders illegally is illegal. Forgetting to pay for a case of pop is illegal. So can someone explain to me again why the guy couldn’t just give the soda back and try again tomorrow?
We now live in a society where no one in authority uses their brain and makes a judgement based on the circumstances. Instead it is “zero tolerance” where a computer might as well dish out justice...
If this happened to me, I’d take out a full page ad in the local paper stating what happened and ask people if they want to shop at a place that operates its business that way. I’d make em pay...
If the guy was doing the shoping, he may have been thinking about other erands or perhaps some tasks he needed to do at home. It is possible he forgot. How do they know what the intent was?
As other posters stated, where was the box boy or checker here? The idiotic guard should arrest them too, as accomplices. Let’s throw them all in prison Barney Fife.
Oh that’s right, he only had one bullet, couldn’t confront the whole gang.
Sorry, not taking some guy into custody over some soda. Cite the guy if you must, but seriously folks. Cheeze Whiz!
I would have given this guy the benefit of the doubt and allowed him to go back in and pay for the pop. I myself avoid that problem by going through the regular checkout when I have something heavy on the bottom of the my cart. That way, the cashier can use the hand scanner and I don’t have to lift the item up onto the counter. Every once in a while, being a weakling has its advantages!
The story continuation states that it was a self check-out. With two carts full of stuff, he must have been half crazed by the time he finished. Easy to miss the soda underneath.
No doubt. They think all LEOs are saints, even when they act criminally and in violation of the Constitution.
And what is 'pop' anyway?
After going through the self checkout, Sturgis said he forgot a $4 case of pop under the cart.
Ohio’s problem evidently, is they don’t have enough real crimes...
Sheesh, around here you almost need to do a drive-by before cops even look at you.
...was a complete basket case!
Who goes through a grocery self-checkout with TWO CARTS? This guy is a masochist! He should sue for emotional distress. And how about this: the store has this auto-checkout line so they hire one less cashier, but somebody's got enough time on his hands to observe and bust a distracted, multi-tasking shopper who uses that checkerless nightmare of a system. Are these things the grocery store equivalent to a highway speed trap? Is there a shoplifter quota to fill?
If someone breaks into my car at my house the cops will not come. I have to go downtown and fill out a report but they will send 5 cop cars at a time to a bar to see if anyone is smoking a cigarette.
“FORGETTING” to pay for the case of pop is not illegal. The crime of larceny requires the specific intent to steal. If he intended to steal the coke and was just pretending to have “missed it”, that’s a different matter.
I tend to believe him, just last week, I forgot I had a case of pepsi in the bottom of my cart, after I had paid for it. I left it in the cart when I drove off and someone got a free case of diet pepsi (AKA nectar of the gods)
I’m amazed they haven’t shown up already, whining that thwe cops are “just doing their jobs”.
I went to the link, and didn't see where they mentioned the name of the store.
The cop was working as a security guard for this store. They may well get some unwanted publicity, now that the story has gotten loose on the net.
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