Shoplifter threatens grocery worker with knife, attacks him with vodka bottle

I worked at a clothing store and recently chased a thief out of the store. You just get so mad and their blatant disregard and sense of entitlement. The thing is most of them aren't afraid of kicking your booty if that's what's necessary such as illustrated in this story. I guess I was lucky.

I hope they can't handle their booze, and through-up all over themselves.

Is it common policy to pursue shoplifters and thieves outside a business? In my workplace we have VERY strict rules regarding just this kind of thing. NEVER chase anyone outside, and never try to touch them. As soon as you lay hands on someone you run the risk of being charged with assault, even if you are only trying to detain said person. You also never go outside after them, you put yourself in a bad position doing so, and I think this guy learned that the hard way. Was it worth chasing them outside for a couple bottles of booze? Stupid of the clerk/worker, because you just made yourself a liability for the store. Now your going to be canned I would hope, as an example at least to other workers there. When is it worth risking your life over some crappy liquor? He is lucky he only got hurt, maybe he will learn to make smart choices in the future when it comes to shoplifters. Shoplifting happens all the time, nailing a couple punks won't stop the problem, let the police deal with it.

They didn't get far, and didn't get drunk either!  The employee should be allowed to smack them both upside their stupid heads with vodka bottles, let's see what breaks!

Merchants in Ferndale should bar Eric Robinson Jr. and Tytan Jameson from even entering their stores. Keep known shoplifters out of all the stores in town and maybe these two losers will get the message.

Punks!

It's funny how clothing retailers put those special tags on clothes to prevent shoplifting or electronics retailers have special RFID type stickers hidden in the CD/DVD packaging to help thwart shoplifting. So why can't they put those same special stickers on the bottles? Other security measures would be like some places that sell other easy to steal items where you bring the cashier an empty box and then they go back and get the actual product.

this is a terrible incident, what a waste of good vodka! !!  

I would've kicked the Ferndale right outta those dudes..

pull a knife on me ! Hiiiiiiii - Yaaaaaaaaaaa !

I find it amusing to have a policy that states your not able to protect your own belongings anymore.  Welcome to Africa where people literally lie down and allow themselves to be shot, tortured, burned alive and killed because thats simply the way of things.  Good grief.  And there are those that still think the second amendment has nothing to do with protecting life and liberty.

Grocery stores have already lost 100's of thousands of dollars in stolen liquor. They are still making a profit though so they don't care about the impact the thefts have on the communities.

Sad thing is the grocery store probably won't cover the medical bills since you aren't supposed to chase shoplifters.  I worked undercover security for a couple years when I was younger and they were very strict about this. If you were injured chasing someone off property, you would not be covered for medical expenses and you most likely would lose your job. And this was a policy for a security company, it was/is even worse for grocery stores. 

I wondered how long it would take before the 'Hard Stuff" became a target for the shoplifters.  I also wonder how long it will be before some stores decide it's not worth the hassle to stock.