Police were called, I was shoplifting!

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Yesterday afternoon I was helping an elderly friend by replacing an electric baseboard heater in her bathroom.
I bought the replacment heater from a local hardware store along with an add on thermostat.

Back at the house, I removed the old heater and started to assemble the new one by fitting the thermostat. I then discoverd the T'stat was missing it's mounting screws and plastic knob.

So I return to the store and show the sales assistant what is missing, and we get a new complete T'stat. He then escorts me to the checkout to process the substitution.

There is a long line at the checkout (and it isn't moving), and after a few minutes the assistant says he is going to leave me.
I tell him (nicely) I am busy too, I have left an old lady in a house with little heat (the power is off) there is nothing to be paid, please sort it out, I am leaving.

I leave the store, get in my truck and drive off.

As I am about to join the highway, there is a crash as a young man in a leather jacket leaps into the box of my pickup truck!

I stop get out and confront him (thinking what the heck!) The guy is them 6" from my face and blabbering.
The sales assistant is running from the store to me, I can't make sense of what is being said (the man had a strong accent) so I ask "Do you know this guy, who is he?"

Both then tell me that he is the store owner, and I am shoplifting!

The guy is still RIGHT in my face, so I just say "I want the police" they both tell me they have already been called.

The owner says he wants his merchandise from the cab of my truck. I said NO, we will go back in the store and await the police.

Back in the store the owner is mouthing off saying how I am stupid and "DO..YOU..NOT..UNDERSTAND..ENGLISH" (As it happens, I am originally from England)

I said I refuse to speck until the police arrive. I turn my back on him.

He then says he wants me out of his store, to wait outside. (Repeats this several times)

It is snowing outside and I tell him if he wants me out of the store he will have to physically remove me, or wait for the police. (I have about 6" and 40 lbs on the guy)

He them tells the sales assistant to 'Gaurd me' and walks off.

Eventually the police arrive and the owner come back to show the video of me leaving the sales assistant at the checkout. The owner is ranting and the policeman tells him to be quite.

I them explain what happened show the T'stat and my sales recept.

The store owner then says he does not want to press charges.

The policeman tells him "nobody is going to be charged here" and that we should just leave this be and move on.

I leave the store with the policeman, and the owner starts ranting again about the T'stat not being checked out.

I hand the item and my recipt to the lady at the check out, get an additional recipt and leave the store.

I talk to the policman outside the store (he is quite friendly) He tells me some merchants are hyper alert to shoplifting, I say "No kidding" and remind him of the owner jumping in my truck at the intersection.

The cop agrees 'That was not a good idea'


WOW!
 
Wow indeed.
I also refused several times to show my receipt before I exit the store to some random worker, when I just spent 10 minutes in the checkout line and then they want more to wait again in a line to show the receipt. No way, they have their cameras, sensors and loss prevention people, either call the cops or don't bother me.
 
Glad it did not turn out any worse than it did . I am sure woy will continue to trade at that store ? :-(
 
I understand that businesses are sensitive to shrinkage of stock, as they should be.
However, there is such a thing as professionalism, which sounds like it was sadly lacking here.
If this happened to me, I certainly would never return to the business, and would encourage others to go elsewhere.
 
No good deed goes unpunished.

Glad it all worked out for you and your friend has heat.
 
Originally Posted By: Danno
I'm assuming you won't be shopping at that store any longer?
Sounds like a home Hardware store.


YES,

Home Hardware, Duncan.

I am banned from the store (says the owner) not that would go back there.

Think is, I have been in the building trades in this town for 27 years.
 
I have had better luck with the locally owned Hardware stores.

I went to Menards one day for some replacement deck lumber. The guy at the pickup desk gives me the receipt and says go pick up your lumber and then drive through the exit booth for inspection, which I did (and I always do).

I almost exit the lot when I get stopped by the police. WTH? They say the store said I did not stop for an inspection. I said I did and show them the receipt and the sig of the booth operator.

So we go back to the store and speak with the manager, show him the receipt, we go out and RE-count the lumber. I tell the manager he owes me an apology. He tells me it was mistaken identity.

So what are you going to do about it?

Nothing.


So I avoid Menard's unless it is an item that only Menard's carries.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Did it damage your truck bed?


No, but another irony.

In the truck be I had a neo-angle shower kit that a client had bought at that same store.

Due to the cold weather, I needed to move the shower wall panels into the new bathroom to aclimatize to room temp. If the glass doors had been packed under the wall plastic in the box, I would have left them in the truck rather than risking them being broken at the job site.

As it worked out, perhaps sadly, the carton was empty. :-(
 
All last night I was thinking of what I might have done (Differently)

But when all is said and done, I think it better I did not escalate the situation.

Perhaps I could have hit the brakes harder when he jumped in the box ;-)
 
In Indiana, as most states, you can make a civilian arrest for a felony (which theft is). So the store owner could have taken custody of you. But once he did, he's responsible for the arrest. AND THE CIVIL LAWSUIT FOR MILLIONS AFTER THE DISCOVERY THAT NO THEFT ACTUALLY OCCURED.

Plus, jump in a truck around my area and start blabbering in a panic and you're likely to get, well, ventilated.
 
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Looking back on it, I really think the guy was trying to bait me.

First by getting right in my face, then verbally insulting and (perhaps) inciting a racist response from me.

While the police was there he started ranting and getting close to a racist slur, before the police cautioned him to be quite.

For the record, I am Caucasian with an English accent, he is (possibly Turkish or Persian ancestry.
 
When a stranger jumps into your vehicle, you can legally assume that he has bad intent and defend yourself. It is the same as coming into your house uninvited.
 
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