A Pennsylvania woman says her fingernail was torn off in a heated confrontation with a Walmart greeter who tried to stop her from leaving the store after she declined to show her receipt at the exit.
Susan C. Eagle was pushing a shopping cart filled with merchandise she bought at the Walmart Supercenter in Easton, Pa. March 14 when a greeter said, “I need to see your receipt.” Eagle told the woman that the receipt had been taped to the Vizio television box in her cart and continued toward the exit. The greeter repeated her demand, then grabbed Eagle and twisted her arm to prevent her from leaving, according to Eagle’s account of the altercation.
“She then grabs me by the arm and twists me, causing my finger to get caught in the shopping cart and ripping off my fingernail down to the nail bed,” Eagle wrote in an e-mail to IndeRegister.
Under Pennsylvania Statute 3929, merchants can detain someone on suspicion of shoplifting only when they have probable cause to believe a theft has occurred. Refusing to participate in a voluntary search does not provide probable cause, and store employees cannot physically restrain a customer simply because he or she chooses not to submit to a receipt check.
Eagle said she told the greeter to let her go, and the woman replied, “I’m not touching you” while maintaining her grip on the shocked shopper’s arm.
Eagle pried the grabby greeter’s hand off and left the store. After loading her purchases into the car, Eagle called the store from her cell phone and reported the assault to an assistant manager, who promised to look into the situation.
A former Walmart associate, Eagle said the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail chain has a policy that prevents greeters from touching customers for any reason. Eagle spoke to the district manager, who acknowledged this policy and said he would review surveillance footage and call her back.
Eagle reported the assault to the Easton Police Department and said a police officer — apparently ignorant of the law — defended the store greeter’s actions.
“The officer I spoke to said that this store has a high theft rate and that this is Walmart’s policy,” Eagle wrote. “I explained to him this is not my problem and (their) policy can not supercede state law, and the law is you can not detain me illegally. He was not happy with my response.”
The officer “abruptly ended the conversation” but did file a report, Eagle wrote.
Eagle said she will likely file a complaint with Walmart’s corporate headquarters. She wants an apology for her mistreatment and assurance that employees at the Easton store will be retrained.
Many stores station a security guard, greeter or courtesy associate near the exit to check customers’ receipts as they leave. Some retailers say it is their policy to verify certain purchases, but legally they may only do so with shoppers’ permission. Receipt and bag checks are a form of consent searches — they are lawful only when customers freely agree to participate.
Coercing a customer to show his receipt or open his shopping bags for inspection is more than poor customer service — in most cases, it’s against the law. Employees who block a shopper’s exit or physically restrain him could be charged with false imprisonment, unlawful detention and/or simple assault, depending on applicable state laws. They also could face civil penalties under the torts of false imprisonment and trespass to chattels.
Can’t they stop shoplifters? Yes — when they have probable cause, which is usually established by witnessing someone conceal merchandise or carry it past the last point of sale without paying. In those cases, merchant’s privilege laws allow store employees to detain a shoplifting suspect until police arrive to investigate the theft.
In their zeal to catch thieves, many stores are casting unjustified suspicion on thousands of honest, paying customers. The insulting practice rises to the level of criminally inexcusable when workers assault and injure shoppers who only want to leave the store unmolested.
Susan C. Eagle should get her apology, and Walmart employees should be retrained on the finer points of legal loss prevention. Come to think of it, there’s at least one Easton police officer who could use a refresher course, too.
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Hmm. I’m definitely sympathetic to the woman in this case. The Wal-Mart employee stepped pretty far out of line doing that.
Still, I keep getting drawn back to that detail about the receipt, and how it was taped on to her television. Why would the cashier do this? I imagine precisely for the purpose of ease of access to the receipt.
My point is, if it’s taped to the side of a television in a shopping cart, it’s not exactly hidden. It would not have been any inconvenience to her simply to stop and show the greeter something that was in plain sight. She didn’t have anything to hide.
Please, please don’t mishear me. I’m not saying that Wally World was in its rights to do that. Most definitely not. I understand that the law is on Eagle’s side, and she deserves an apology at the least.
But given the placement of the receipt, and her legitimacy as a customer, I can’t help but think that the whole thing could have been avoided if she’d just taken a minute and let the greeter check the receipt.
Ryan,
I will respond to your comment once I or my daughter in this case purchase something at Walmart it now becomes our property they have NO right to search me unless they believe that I have commited a criminal act which I did not. I have refused for several years now to show my receipt at big box stores such as Walmart, Target and such and will continue I am not going to cow down to these stores or there employees. By allowing these stores to continue this practice we are losing one more freedom and we are saying it’s ok to accuse me of being a thief I will NOT do this.
Ma’am, it’s clear to me that for you this is a very important issue. I don’t mean to add to your difficulties in any way, and I hope that you did not take my commentary as judgmental.
I wish the best for you in this.
One hundred freedoms so dear on the wall, one hundred freedoms so dear, we take one down and toss it all out 99 freedoms so dear on the wall.
99 freedoms so dear of the wall, 99 freedoms so dear…
We are slowly picking away our freedoms because it is just one at a time. How many times have you just wanted to get in to a store, buy what you wanted to and simply get out. No chit chat or hold ups. You resent the time in line so you look for the line that looks like it will take the least amount of time.
So reality is I don’t want to be messed with by someone who could not make their way through the police academy so they come to work at WalMart where they can act as if they are enforcing some big law. I put it that way due to the rising assaults that are being reported.
It is my understanding that I can refuse the search. So when they ask and I say no thank you, that should be the end of that. It is not happening like that apparently. These workers are getting their egos bruised, so they take things up a notch and they play out their fantasy of cops.
This needs to be stopped immediately. I used to work as a security guard and we were not supposed to become physical with someone. We were to observe and report to the officers that we had called in for back up.
So people are asking, why not just show the receipt and get on with your day. I will tell you why I don’t. They are accusing me of stealing something and I am standing in WalMart’s mini court pleading my case, showing that I did, in fact, purchase all the goods in my cart. What really cracks me up is when I go through the garden center and they are 2 feet away from where we are paying and they insist on seeing your receipt. I laugh and tell them if they were really doing their job they would know I had paid.
I can appreciate that in a time that we have need of jobs being created this is one that has been brought fourth. They really need to retrain them, unless this is their goal, insult, physically harm or kill their customers over loss prevention. Wow, thinking on that, they are placing a value on the price of a customers head. Is a human life worth less than the profits that are lost, especially if the human that is targeted is falsely charged?
I would love to say stop shopping there, I know that too is not always practical because of the economy as it stands.
WalMart is going to have to make some big choices. But at the same time, maybe it is us that have to realize, we are getting closer and closer to Big Brother.
Welcome friends, to 1984, we are a bit off schedule but we are still staying the path…
In my opinion, stores should focus on use of crime deterring devices like hi-tech loss prevention products, CCTV cameras, keepers etc. Instead of doublechecking receipts. Shoppers would be traumatized to be accused of something they did not do. Especially in a place where checking of receipts is not a lawful obligation. If it were then the situation would be different.
The Wal-Mart associate should have allowed the customer to continue right out the door if she did not wish to stop to show her receipt. As an associate earning $8.50 per hour my life is too important to get into an altercation with someone who obviously has mental health issues or she would have willingly showed her receipt for the purchase made in the store.
Wal Mart Associate,
I beg to differ with you but I have no Mental Health Issues as a Matter of fact it is Wal Marts written policy that Sales receipt checks are voluntary and I won’t volunteer to be subjected to a search without probable cause, to make my point further clear if you believe you have probable cause you had better be 100% correct because if you are wrong you will pay the price for wrongful prosecution, furthermore as a walmart associate you have to right to touch me and cause bodily injury and are subject to criminal prosecution and subject to a civil lawsuit for those injuries I have no intention of suing walmart but will tell you that the video tape was reviewed by corporate and as a result the employee in question has been fired She is the person with the Mental health Issues for assaulting me. I showed great restraint per walmart management and I would have been within my rights to have defended myself. Since you were not there and you have not seen the video I question your authority to question my mental Health as a matter of fact I am a well educated professional working in the Health care industry
Well some old lady tried to detain me because the 24 pack of Sam’s cola wasn’t bagged today, I informed her she did not need to check my receipt, she insisted. I asked if she was a security officer, asset protection or a manager, to which she declined she was not. I then asked if she was accusing me of shoplifting, she said no. I then informed her that I had lawfully paid for these items, they are my property, I will not voluntarily allow you to detain me and I’m going on my way, goodbye. She followed me to the exit and even radioed for security. I then proceeded to bone out of the parking lot and file a formal complaint with WalMart corporate. =)
Lucky225,
Good for you if only more people would stick up for themselves in the same manner that you have done Walmart might realize that this practice has to stop! I have not intention of backing down from my position on this subject and as a reult I feel even more strongly about it after what happened. Good for you.
Thank you for posting this blog. The same thing happened to us recently. I am furious.
Did the Wal-Mart store REALLY think my 80 year old blind mother was a shoplifter?
They did it to me, again today. What about everybody else? They ignore the men. They are afraid of them. Only checking the receipts of WOMEN. I am disgusted with them. Would love to shop somewhere else – but, the stores are so limited!
The manager said it was because I had bought 6 bottles of water that were unbagged.
From now on I will DEMAND every item bagged. Like it or not.
Bag EVERYTHING and then see if they continue stopping you.
Agrees,
This managaer is not being truthful with you, On the other hand not everything you purchase in Walmart can be bagged and in most instances they do not have oversized shopping bags for larger items. so quite simply the only solution to this is to quietly say sorry I have paid for my purchases and keep walking out the door which is what I do and my family does. Now if they follow out you out the door which they will occcasionaly do to try and intimidate you you can call 911 or if they touch you and try to restrain you this now becomes an illegal act on the greeters part most times this will not happen but occassionly this can be encountered. Hold your position is all I can encourage you to do is just keep walking out the front door if you have done nothing wrong. best of luck to you and your family.
Susan was physically harrassed and has every right to pursue legal action against both Wal-Mart and the clerk. Perhaps that will stop such actions. Certain Wal-Marts are notorious for this and it needs to stop.
Susan, your are obviously an idiot or you would know how to use punctuation. I also think you are a shoplifter. I doubt you really give a crap about person freedoms, you just don’t want to get caught stealing.
Maria, I am not sure what your agenda is but I will go on to say your name fits and you Obviously have had a few too many Martinis., Don’t worry I have never been arrested not that I need to defend myself to the likes of you, you were not there , you never saw the video & you are a dollar too late on this discussion.
I was late for dinner on Christmas Eve. Asked by the Greeter to show my receipt, I waived and walked on. I was then stopped by a policeman in uniform who told me I had to show the receipt. I did so under protest. The policeman had lowered himself and all other fellow officers to the level of a hired gun for Walmart. He is supposed to only enforce local, state and federal laws which explicitly exclude unwarranted searches. Before someone jumps to the idea I am a quack. I was a Sargent in the USAF during Vietnam, solidly middle class with a comfortable income and have never stolen, except for a candy bar at 7 years old and caught in the act. Early lessons. I had for several years had a tightening in my stomach when exiting Walmart. Now, as a former Walmart customer who purchased everything the store offered from food to clothing , electronics, plants and paint, I can say I will never enter another of their stores.
Whenever I was pulled aside for the ‘voluntary’ receipt check in the past I remember seeing all the other shoppers looking on, some seemed relieved and some seemed accusatory, as though another crook had been caught. I did not realize how deeply I disliked being singled out and I believe I have a small inkling why the fourth amendment was written into the Constitution to protect us.
Since I am solidly middle class, the low prices of Walmart are not a serious blow. Indeed, I found another chain store that had a dollar isle that has even lower prices. I am thinking that even though Walmart is the largest retailer in America, every other retailer is cheering them on as the more affluent avoid their stores.