It's one of these type situations that perhaps a verbal "HEY!" might be enough distraction. Very low chance of legal liability issues arising from a simple shout as opposed to physical involvement.OneGun wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 3:43 pm It is because of the situation described in this thread that I am more likely to mind my own business unless I see someone at risk of great bodily injury or death. I don't know if the fight between the thief and the employees was a scuffle or if the thief was landing major hard blows. With the current crop of progressive DAs that protect criminals at the expense of the citizens, I'm more likely to not insert myself into a situation. It is a shame that we live in a world that protects the criminals and the unintended consequences that follow.
Several of the scenarios I was put in when I took the local citizen's police academy were chaotic that required split second decisions to determine victim from assailant. In today's environment, it may not be so black and white. I've seen videos where customers are assaulted by employees for disagreeing, and vice versa.
Unless I had witnessed the full encounter, I would be uncomfortable getting involved physically, out of concern for assisting the would-be bad-guy to flee (potentially best case scenario if I guessed wrong). I have already decided I'm not going to use deadly force to stop someone from stealing "stuff". That being said, based on the news article this was more than just pure shoplifting as it had escalated to assault. It will be interesting to see what additional information comes out of this. I'd honestly like to see the store security footage.