Eventually, A Good Grab

Exactly one week to the hour after being maced in the face by a shoplifter I was trying to apprehend, I found myself on the trail of another genius who decided to take some merchandise without paying.

I was perched in my office watching the cameras when I noticed a guy pushing a baby stroller. Now, to the naked eye, that's such a cute scene, daddy spending some quality shopping time with his little boy. To the eye of the LP who has grown suspicious of every young male alone in the Electronics Department, that stroller is merely a vehicle to transport stolen goods. I watched halfheartedly, expecting "mom" to show up soon after wandering through the shoe department nearby. But no, I only see yet another young male walk up and talk to the daddy. They seemed to be comparing video game accessories. Before the two separate, I leave the office and walk to the Electronics Department for a closer look. I was only perusing the DVD aisle for thirty seconds when I see the daddy look around for one second, then all of a sudden push the stroller out of the department and head toward the back corner of the store. I look back and noticed his buddy hasn't even moved. He continued to finger every video games on the shelf. I then decided to leave the department and keep an eye on the daddy.

I noticed from several departments behind him, the guy with the stroller makes a turn into the Hardware Department. I noticed how he seemed to know right where he was going. Most people looking for some obscure tool or device in Hardware won't know where that department is, or where to find that item, and have to ask an employee. Not so this time. He walked from the video games, past four other departments directly into Hardware, as if he was on a mission.

I stepped up my pace and swung around through the Automotive aisles trying to get a good angle on this guy, seemingly perusing the hardware offerings. I caught a glimpse of him in a ceiling mirror and saw that his back was turned to the main aisle. I took this opportunity to dash past and into the aisle right next to him. I did my version of tip-toeing down the aisle until I was directly opposite of him with only a thin wall of metal shelving between us. I looked almost straight up into the mirror above and could see everything he was doing.

With an occasional glimpse back and forth up and down the aisle, he removed a box containing a Water Filter for a kitchen faucet, from the shelf. He knelt down behind the stroller, pulled the filter and accessories out of the box, then unzipped a compartment on the back of the stroller. At this time, I noticed a small child laying in the stroller looking straight up into the mirror as I was doing back at him. It was hard not to smile, wave and make faces at the cute kid. However, daddy finished transferring the contents of the water filter box to the stroller compartment, then returned the empty box, neatly closed up as he found it, back on to the shelf. This instantly got my adrenaline flowing. I was now certain of what I was seeing, and that was daddy using his child to help steal from the store. It was at this moment I decided, his ass was mine, one way or another.

He tucked away the filter into the compartment, zipped it up, stood up and returned to pushing the stroller out of the department. As soon as he cleared the end of the aisle, I walked around and grabbed the empty box. As I walked out of the department trying to keep an eye on the stroller, I found an Assistant Manager nearby.

"Here, take this up to the front desk, guy with the stroller just took it" I said to her as I kept walking trying to keep up with the stroller. What I didn't expect was that the dad with the stroller was done shopping and decided to head right for the exit. I watched from a back aisle and suddenly noticed he was making his way across the front of the store, aimed right at the exit. I jumped down a few aisles and then had to run toward the front door to catch up to him before he made it through the doors.

I approached the doors from the left at the same time he was approaching from the right. Just as he hit the first door, the alarms went off signifying he had merchandise that had a security tag on it. I immediately switched gears and walked through the vestibule to him waiting at the door with a confused look on his face.

"How are you," I said almost out of breath from my little jog. "Just step over to the side here and we can figure out whats setting that off."

"It's okay, it goes off all the time when I bring the stroller in with me." the guy says slowly backing the stroller up.

"Okay thats cool, maybe we can figure out why for ya then..." I kept talking calmly so he didn't realize I knew what he was up to. "Just pull to the side here and will take care of it"

The assistant manager approached us from behind him and he suddenly realized he was outnumbered. He slid the stroller to the side and walked toward me.

"I am just going to take my kid to the car..."

"This will only take a minute, step to the side here, and you'll be able to go in a second..." he was now right in front of me with the stroller next to him, and he was eyeing up the possibility of getting past me. "Dude, you don't want to cause a scene in front of your kid do you?"

"And what the hell are you going to do about it?" he was now face to face with me.

I turned my head to look at the assistant manager and have her call 9-1-1. It was quite apparent this wasn't going to end smoothly. At the same time he shoved me in the chest so hard I fell back on to the floor of the vestibule. As soon as I got my bearings back, I started to stand up as he walked out into the vestibule. Inches away from my face I saw his waist and I just wrapped my arms around him and began what I thought would be a nice tackle. However, I was suddenly reminded of my high school days when I played rough touch football with my buddy Bob. I would wrap him up and try to pull him down with all of my dead weight, but Bob simply wore me like a cape and drug me downfield.

Much like Bob, this guy was only mildly slowed down. I tried grabbing his legs to trip him up, but I hadn't realized he was still steadying himself on the damned stroller. We continued this for mere seconds, but did make it out on to the sidewalk where I finally got him down. Finally letting go of the stroller he then started hitting and kicking and he broke free of my grip. In a flash he was up and gone, running across the front of the store like he stole something!

I got myself up off the sidewalk, quickly scoured the area for my glasses and hat, then realized two male employees were standing there watching.

"We didn't know if we could do anything..." they said with one of the dumbest looks on their faces I had ever seen.

"Are you kidding me?! If I am in the process of getting my ass kicked you fucking help me!" I couldn't have yelled any louder. I couldn't believe they stood and watched. Not only because this guy was fighting me, but because they also let him just run away while I was looking for my glasses.

Suddenly one of the employees pulled keys from his pocket and ran to his car. He finally felt the need to get involved. I watched from the front door as the employee turned the corner in pursuit of a guy running with a baby stroller. I then realized there were other customers standing nearby shopping through clothing racks we had outside for a sidewalk sale.

"Sorry, I work here and that guy stole merchandise and hid it in the baby stroller..." I tried to let them know I was the good guy, and he was so bad he used his kid to help steal.

Seconds pass before the first police car screeches into the lot. I just point toward the side lot and he speeds off. Soon he is followed by three more police cars, none of which even slow down at my door, they all seem to know right where to go. Minutes later, the employee drives back around the corner and pulls up to me and rolls his window down.

"The police want to know if you can come over to the parking garage and ID the guy..."

He barely got the words out and I was running for the passenger door... "Let me in!"

When we got to the parking garage, which is located behind our store, five police cars were parked in disarray near the entrance to the stairwell. The vehicle was barely parked when I jumped out of the passenger side. A police officer noticed us pulling up and came right over, stopping me from getting any closer. I explained the incident to the officer before he finally asked if the guy sitting in the grass, in handcuffs, next to a baby stroller, was the guy involved in the incident. I identified him as the person who stole the merchandise, assaulted me and fled.

The water filter and video game controller was located inside the stairwell by an officer chasing him there on foot. He tried hiding the stuff but the officer was there too quickly and saw where he was.

"You okay?" the officer asked me taking notes.

"Yeah I'm fine, just pissed off"

"What's that on your arm..." the officer gave me a quick once over with his flashlight. I lifted my arm and then noticed blood running down my arm from an open gash on my elbow.

"Guess I got cut, didn't know that was there..."

I then returned to the store, apologized for yelling at the two employees, realizing that they were only concerned for their measely part time jobs, and began rehashing the events with the manager. She saw my arm and offered to get some bandages from the first aid kit and wrap it up for me.

Finally sitting in my office, with the water filter and game controller sitting on my desk, with my arm sloppily bandaged and bleeding...I still felt good about the incident.

The last thing I saw was the tough guy, Daddy of the Year, being stuffed into a police car with his hands cuffed behind his back. I was notified later that he was no stranger to Retail Theft. He had a record in New York for prior theft arrests, but this was the first one with Assault, Fighting, and Endangering the Welfare of A Child added to it.

I was told once again by several employees how I don't get paid enough for the job I do. But was it worth it? Well, I received a cut elbow, a bruised rib, and a cut on my knee. I was at work the next night and the merchandise was back on the shelf. The Daddy of the Year, on the other hand, was arrested, fined and may see jail time.

All in all...yeah,'twas a good night.