Posted on 02/11/2011 7:10:10 PM PST by marktwain
LAYTON -- The shoplifter smashed Gabriel Stewart up against a wall. It didn't take him long to realize that pressure against his lower back was from a loaded gun held by a desperate man who didn't want to go to jail.
The gunman had a firm grip on Stewart's shoulder, telling him and three of his Walmart co-workers, "Don't make me do this."
"Absolutely, time stopped," Stewart told KSL News. "I didn't know what to do."
Instantly, Shawn Ray and Justin Richins kicked into gear, spinning the gunman around. Lori Poulsen ripped the gun away and secured it. They all held onto the man until police arrived minutes later.
The four Layton Walmart employees felt it was mission accomplished. Police officers told them they had done everything right.
But a week later, all four were fired from their jobs. Walmart said their actions had violated company policy and put their fellow workers and shoppers at risk.
(Excerpt) Read more at ksl.com ...
They should sue Wal-mart. They stopped a criminal.
Maybe Wal-mart doesn’t care about the safety of its employees and shoppers but the company needs to be taught a lesson where it hurts - its bottom line.
Oh good grief.
Get a life.
I’d have promoted them.
My policy would have read that they need to use discretion and judgement in volatile situations like this. You cannot write a blanket policy to cover every scenario. I wrote use-of-force policies for a maximum-security prison.
I used to tell my Captains that “you were the one there”- what you did may not have been what I would have done but if you can show that what you did was reasonable, prudent and logical I will support you 100%.
One would think that Walmart would be a LOT BETTER off perhaps talking to the employees and trying to understand the particular situation...rather than killing themselves in the PR world. This is just plain STUPID on their part.
The policy itself makes sense in almost all cases, but you have to have someone (other than a man-hating zealot) with the authority to flex some of these rules.
Please,someone tell us the great deals at Walfart.I can’t find one yet in Texas because they charge more than most stores for their JUNK.
on Sept. 11, 2001, every airline employee and passenger were instructed to cooperate with hijackers and leave it up to the ‘professionals’ to deal with them.
OK, so the way I’m reading this is that they didn’t “confront” him after he pulled the gun. It appears they were following WM procedure and he then pulled the gun and grabbed his hostage.
They were in fear of the man’s life and believed it was safer to act then rather than let him back out with a hostage and perhaps shoot the hostage later.
Again, it appears they didn’t know he was armed until after he pulled the gun out and grabbed the guy. Is that the way others here read it?
Happening in that order, I’m not sure it violates WM policy.
As I looked over the story I saw NOTHING about any church, much less the Mormon Church. Apparently you have some problem with either the station or the Mormon Church. I would suggest you refrain from watching the station and maybe say a little prayer to help you over come your bias against that particular church.
It's irritating and this might be enough to get me to quit doing business with Walmart, but they do have some bargains that I just can't resist.
I quit eating their meat, though, when I heard that they buy some of their meats from the 99 Cent Store.
I see it the same way, except for one detail. I believe Walmart’s policy is that once he pulled the gun they were obligated to surrender, even though it would have cost them their lives.
And I’m tired of funding China’s military.
Gotta be below 100 IQ to work at walmart, period. This stuff should mean anyone with any sense would leave or not be there at all in the first place.
Guess who is NOT going shopping at Wal-Mart? ME!!! MY WHOLE FAMILY!!! And anyone I can tell this story to.
You can’t go “Balls to the Wal” because Wal-Mart has no balls. Only its employees.
ALL REDNECKS BOYCOTT WAL MART TILL THEY MAKE THIS RIGHT
Best as I can tell, Wal-Mart is shipping boxcars of IOUs to Beijing in exchange for boxcars of trinkets. Where does China take these IOUs to buy military supplies? Does China pay its soldiers in IOUs? The worse thing about this is pulling the rug out from under American manufacture.
Really? And you have read the legal contracts between WalMart and their liability insurance providers?
You are certain their are no controlling state laws that are in place?
You don’t even know that I made No Excuses for what WalMart did. All you did was run your fool mouth off and made an asshat of yourself.
One more reason why I never, ever, shop at Walmart. I would rather give my money to another merchant who treats their employees fairly. Perhaps these other merchants may even buy something made here in the USA instead of cheap, inferior goods from China (what a concept)./s
Caveat emptor.
Let the corporate pukes at Walmart know what you think. Be sure to mention how you’d vote on a jury that heard a lawsuit aginst them: http://walmartstores.com/contactus/feedback.aspx
I have a feeling these 4 will get mountains of job offers since the event went mainstream. Heroes, they are, all of them.
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