“That’s called whooping your a-s,” said an unidentified bystander as he watched two 7-11 employees at a store in California apprehend a would-be shoplifter who was filling a trashcan with hundreds of dollars worth of cigarettes.
Video of the encounter has gone viral amid a national backdrop of increasingly rampant retail theft, a trend that has been extensively covered by The Dallas Express.
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A man can be seen behind the checkout counter dumping tobacco products into a trashcan as two store employees and at least one bystander look on. The prospective loot included cigarettes, vaping devices and cartridges, and cigars.
“There’s nothing you can do man until you call the police,” said the bystander.
However, as the man with the trashcan attempted to maneuver back around the counter with his haul, an employee took him down to the floor while another retrieved what appeared to be a broomstick and proceeded to beat the alleged shoplifter, hitting him about 20 times in the legs and on the buttocks.
According to the New York Post, the incident occurred in Stockton, California.
The suspect relented and said, “Yeah, I’m done!” He reportedly had trouble walking but eventually left the store after asking the employees for a free soda.
“You do this s–t and you want a soda? No, no, no. Get the f–k out, man,” said the bystander, per the New York Post.
According to the National Retail Federation, organized retail theft has been an issue for many stores across the country and reportedly caused $94 billion in losses. Typically, a person or two steal as much as possible from a store, and a wider group of individuals resell the goods on the black market or online.
Such operations have led some companies, like Walgreens, to experiment with special anti-theft stores in certain cities.
As of August 4, there have been 1,482 reported instances of shoplifting in Dallas, a 54% increase year over year, according to a report by the Dallas Police Department (DPD).
DPD has been enduring a serious police shortage in recent years. A City analysis advises that a city the size of Dallas needs about three officers for every 1,000 residents — bringing the ideal staffing figure to roughly 4,000. The department currently only has around 3,100 officers on staff.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot received pushback after instituting a non-prosecution policy for thefts valued under $750. He eventually repealed the policy.
In defense of his non-prosecution strategy, Creuzot claimed in a press release that it only applied to “the theft of necessary items like food, diapers, or baby formula that amounts between $100 and $750 … unless evidence shows the theft was for economic gain.”
A recent national poll found that the majority of Americans want police to enforce the law when it comes to “minor offenses,” such as shoplifting, The Dallas Express reported.