Best Buy Employee Fired for Stopping Laptop Thief

[HEXiT]

STUPID LAWYERS FAULT!!!... in the uk. if your a thief and you get hurt while committing the crime its your own fault, there is no liability unless excessive force is used. you could in theory break a thief's leg to stop him running away. you may go to court but theres no way you would be convicted of assault by a uk jury.

in the U.S. a guy can walk into a shop shoot 3 people and get shot himself. only to turn round and get the security guard fired and have him pay damages for shooting the robber... thats ass backwards....

the guy should have been given a reward or a pay rase... not saked...
what happened to justice for all?

 

[marquis]

[citation][nom]Benny-V[/nom]Jesus people, this has NOTHING to do with lawyers, or the well-being of the theif, or anything like that.It's about keeping their customers and empoyees SAFE by discouraging heroes from turning a robbery into a hostage situation. You people need to stop thinking "Liar, Liar" and start thinking "every bank robbing movie you've ever seen"[/citation]

if more criminals knew that they had a 50% chance of being apprehended by bank employees i'll bet you bank robberies would go down dramtically ...

as a society we actualy put MORE people in danger by allowing crimnals to think they can commit robbery at will ...

 

[macewrox]

This reminds me of a lawsuit when a man broke into a woman's house through the skylight, fell down and landed on the kitchen knife set and sued the crap out of the woman. Good times.

 

[applegetsmelaid]

That's Best Buy for ya. When I worked there, a guy tried to buy a laptop with a bad check, so according to "store policy" we were supposed to contact the police. The cops were called and arrived in about 3 minutes - This was the end result: The guy bolts as soon as he sees the cops in the building, he gets tazed and knocked down for a moment - he gets back up and pulls a pistol from his waist and everyone dives for cover - runs out the emergency exit in the back as the cops proceed to chase him - he shoots two cops behind the store and carjacks the mall security guard's truck - police continue to chase him in vehicle and shoot out his tires - man goes out the blaze of glory Tony Montana style as the police shoot him dead in the middle of the road.... Whoever said that life in suburbia wasn't exciting? All in the name of Best Buy policy.

http/www.realpolice.net/forums/archive/t-20163.html

 

[Guest]

Theifs are dangerous. Employees are not police. If you want to stop crime, hire security specialized to do so. BB acknowledges 2 of these concepts.

 

[Guest]

I can easily imagine corporate heads giving themselves a round of high-fives at the expense of the poor chap whose responsible actions led to his termination. Think about it: If the takedown attempt ended with Kline’s death, then the company would invariably have to recompense the family of the employee with, say, $250,000 (USD). For the sake of argument, however, let’s simply assume that Kline knew that his valiant attempt had no serious physical repercussions—that is to say, a “minor” blemish is hardly worthy of discussion (had his arm been lopped off by a machete it would be an entirely different story; this, clearly, is not the cast and so it seems best to move on back to point). Provided this being the case, let’s shift our attention to the merchandise in question. First and foremost, one must realize that there is the potential that recovering said items will be unfruitful. In this instance we not only lose 2 crappy over-priced laptops but rather also lose the man hours spent naively recovering said devices. I’d like to clearly emphasize that police officers have better things to do than waste time trying to recover 2 stollen items which in of itself is resplendently replete with bureaucratic red tape. Company protocols are not above the law of the land. If it is Best Buy’s policy to have a rapist engage in unbecoming conduct be left alone it seems rather foolish, whether the rapist is raping the store of its merchandise or is plowing some person. Of course, this should be taken with a pinch of salt. These guys at Best-Buy sure do operate odd: They cherish and reward tax-evasion and punish good samaritans. By golly, no wonder why rest of the world thinks we’re nuts.

 

[gm0n3y]

This is extremely common. Best Buy really has no choice but to fire the guy, otherwise if anyone gets hurt in a future crime, the company can be held responsible in a civil suit for any injuries. Employees in this day and age just need to realize that you don't stop criminals when you're at work. I've read dozens of stories about the same thing. The employee here, however well meaning, made a mistake and deserves to be fired (or at least given a warning).

 

[soulfringe]

I would just like to remind everyone who is going to nonchalantly five finger best buy to NOT do it at your local store. Though they might not be able to physically stop you, they still have eye witness and video surveillance of the in progress crime. Get recognized, get aressted...ized.

 

[Onus]

That the criminal ran indicates he knew what he was doing was Wrong. Since he chose to do it anyway, we should not waste our time and resources on him; stick his head in a bucket to catch the mess and allow the Best Buy employee who caught him the privilege of pulling the trigger. GAME OVER.

 

[Prince_Porter]

And that, is why I'm self-employed.

 

[COLGeek]

Since I have been declared by someone as part of the problem, I feel I must respond....

In the big people world, we have rules for a reason. In this case, BB protects it people and its corporate well-being with the types of policies being argued about here. The fired employee knew the rules, ignored them, and was fired. Case closed.

BB's interest, their rules, their responsibility to enforce. Had this turned out differently, like the employee had killed the perp or been killed, we would be having a huge argument about how BB was responsible for all of this.

Think, people, think. Do you want store clerks throwing down with alleged thieves? What happens when someone is wrongly accused? There are a million other questions, all with the same sort of response. A "thing" isn't worth the risk to the store or the employee.

 

[jsheridan]

might as well teach the kids young......steal whatever you want because no one will stop you..... and even if you do get caught the punishment is not as bad as if you were downloading music or movies.

 

[COLGeek]

[citation][nom]jtt283[/nom]That the criminal ran indicates he knew what he was doing was Wrong. Since he chose to do it anyway, we should not waste our time and resources on him; stick his head in a bucket to catch the mess and allow the Best Buy employee who caught him the privilege of pulling the trigger. GAME OVER.[/citation]
Must be a rough place to live, on your planet....Not sure a few hundred dollar laptop, or 2, warrants a summary execution.

I understand your sentiment, but you are referring to a legal proceeding that would occur AFTER arrested, convicted, and sentenced. That is way the legal system works in the US.

Then the perp gets his flogging.....

 

[fir_ser]

[citation][nom]obiown77[/nom]I'm gonna grab my friend and grab a 60" 3DTV tonight, well just pick it up, and slowly walk out. As everything is looking at take this TV, I will keep reminding them. STAY BACK EVERYONE!!!! COMPANY POLICY STATES YOU CAN NOT AND WILL NOT INTERFERE WITH MY THEFT OF THIS TV!!!!!![/citation]
LOL.

 

[memadmax]

Alright guys.
I used to live in billings... and religiously shopped at this best buy.
Mr. Kline is one of the greatest guys you could meet personality wise, he don't know much about monitors, but he helps figuring out what you want/need lol. He is kinda like a hippy, he should go work for apple =D

Anyways, billings is full of meth heads too, and the store manager at the best buy there is one of them. This isn't the first time he has done something like this and f'd someone for something stupid.....

I

 

[COLGeek]

For the die hard butt kickers here...At what dollar level do you enforce the clerk takes the law into their hands rule? $1000? $500? $100? $1?

Just had to ask. BTW, ever been accused of stealing something when you hadn't? Also, are you confident in the ability of all clerks to do the right thing (as you put it)?

Any of this sinking in yet?

 

[hang-the-9]

I kinda wish I shopped at Best Buy before so I can say I won't shop there anymore. But I have not been inside one of those in years anyway.

 

[Guest]

You guys hear about the good citizen discount at best buy...
Here's how it works, all you gotta do is walk in to a BB store, grab whatever you can carry and walk out, they just let you have the stuff for being such a good citizen and loyal customer.


Seriously, sad what happened, I know it's policy... but it's a ridiculous policy created by a largely broken legal system, and terrible decisions making in society in general.

 

[COLGeek]

[citation][nom]memadmax[/nom]Alright guys.I used to live in billings... and religiously shopped at this best buy.Mr. Kline is one of the greatest guys you could meet personality wise, he don't know much about monitors, but he helps figuring out what you want/need lol. He is kinda like a hippy, he should go work for apple =DAnyways, billings is full of meth heads too, and the store manager at the best buy there is one of them. This isn't the first time he has done something like this and f'd someone for something stupid.....I[/citation]
The fired employee sounds like a good dude. In fact, I would hire such a person.

That is not the issue here, is it?

BTW, meth heads abound throughout the world now. Cheap, easy to make, highly addictive crap is everywhere. This could happen anywhere, anytime, and a clerk (non-security/non-law enforcement) person isn't trained to deal with these situations.

 

[Parrdacc]

Okay, I just gotta ask this. Forget about legalities, hypothetical and dollar amount situations for a moment.

How many of us can actually agree, disregarding all else, that what the employee did was morally right?