Good samaritan?
 

heres the scoop, was at work yesterday, not workin jus shopping and i walk out the door. as i'm walking, I notice our security officer havin a problem with stoppin a suspect. (she's a short, petite lil black woman) the suspect, a guy was at least a foot taller than her, an the only backup I see is our other security guy, a bigger guy, but he's several aisles away.. the guy bolts from her hold an runs out the door right past me. i could have easily tripped the ****** up or tackled him..but i didn't.

now, i'm not sure about our policy of stoppin thives, while in uniform or on the clock. I beleive we can only chase them to the edge of our building before we call the cops. but should i have interveaned, as a good samaritan, not as a worker-since i was outa uniform an off the clock?

the thieve was some punk teenager. so i'm not exactly threatened by em if your wondering.

In my opinion, I think you should have intervened and tried to stop him or something, but on the other hand, how would your place of employment take that. Some places don't want people intervening. Who knows? One of those screwed if you did and screwed if you didn't.

If he was running and you had tripped him and he fell on his face, I think there could be legal issues for you. I probably would have helped, just because thats the kind of person I am, but at the time I wouldnt have given second thought to legal actions. It would have just been a natural reaction to stop the guy. Even though you may feel you should intervene, sometimes its just not the best thing to do, though I am no one to preach.

Yeh sometimes it's easier to let him go with whatever he took then stop him. It could be a legal matter, appose to a small theft charge which he'll be let off with a slap on the wrist. He's probably learned his lesson not to go that store again. Although I know I would of really debated stopping him. I would of probably just walked infront of him, and tried to slow him down.

-Sam.

You probably did the right thing in not intervening. There's no telling what your store's policy on this kind of matter is and you could have possibly lost your job or something, ya follow my drift?

LEGALLY, Being off the clock and out of uniform, I think you made a good decision (b/c of all the legalities of it) in a small amount of time. Good for you. MORALLY, seems like you did the right thing as well. Now if that person had hurt another, depending on the ramifications of the situation, I would've stepped in.

All in all, I think you made a good choice in the short amount of time you had to decide. Better to err (just to use a term) on the side of the law (in this case)-- out of uniform, off duty, not your problem...especially for a few dollars worth of items--- if that was the case.

I think you did the right thing,seeing as you were not working at the time.But if it were me i might have tried to trip him up a bit,cause you were not in uniform and all,but who knows these things have a way of going against you even if you have good intentions,the guy was probally a scumbag anyway,and is it really worth your job,not knowing what your employer might do to you cause you were not on the clock?:confused: A little food for thought ....huh? ;)

Lets change things up a bit.

Lets say you grabbed him, and he pulls a gun and shoots you. Was it worth dying over some material items? I doubt it.

I say you did the right thing. Being a good witness is better than being killed.

I have not seen it around here but have read about loss prevention persons chasing someone into the street, and getting them hit.

It's funny how crooks are not worth squat to anyone, even their family when their alive. But when their dead, they become the most loved person on earth, worth millions and family can't live without them. Atleast thats what the family tells the judge when your in court.

Call 911 and those folks handle it. Unless someones life is in danger, I say good job.

DAMMM GOOOD POINT!!!!!!!!! ENOUGH SAID!!!! I DIDNT EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT!!!!:eek:

"Loss prevention persons???" You mean security guards??? :D :D :) Ha. You sound like my brother who use to be a deputy for about 5 years. He also use to say, hey, don't try to be a hero. Call 911 and let them handle it, it's there JOB!! :)