The Cart-racing Incident

Date of incident: May 6, 2012

People of Interest:


Discount Store Premises

Description:

One afternoon at Discount Store in Anytown, Ohio, Worker and Coworker had been assigned the job of rounding up shopping carts in the parking lot. As Discount Store employees routinely did, Worker and Coworker competed to see who could be the fi rst to clear the carts from their assigned half of the parking lot. Discount Store managers never attempted to stop the cart races between the employees because, although they realized that the races posed a risk of injury to the employees and others in the parking lot, the competition kept the employees motivated to bring the carts back into the store.

Determined to win the cart race against Coworker, Worker ran through the parking lot collecting carts as fast as he could. He was so focused on winning the race that he did not see Patron walking out of the store. Worker accidentally struck Patron with a cart, knocking him to the ground and causing physical injuries to Patron’s left arm and wrist. Worker helped Patron to a bench near the store entrance and asked him to wait there while he put the carts inside and got his manager.

Patron on the ground (photo courtesy of Reporter from The Anytown Beacon)


Patron waited briefly on the bench, but decided to walk to his nearby car to get his first aid kit. Worker had just finished returning the carts inside the store when he observed Shoplifter leaving the checkout line without paying for a bag of merchandise. Discount Store trained all of its employees to pursue shoplifters leaving the store with Discount Store merchandise, even though it was aware that pursuit of fleeing shoplifters might involve the use of force, which could result in injury to its employees, the shoplifter, and others nearby. As he was leaving the store, Shoplifter noticed that he was being followed and took off running.

Shoplifter ran into the parking lot and, as he was looking behind him to see whether Worker was still behind him, collided with Patron, who had just unlocked his car. Both Shoplifter and Patron fell to the ground and, just as the two were getting back up on their feet, Worker emerged from the store. Worker yelled to Coworker, who was still collecting carts in the parking lot, “Stop the shoplifter!” Believing that Shoplifter was trying to flee in Patron’s car, Coworker rammed Shoplifter with a shopping cart, which knocked both Shoplifter and Patron to the ground again, causing Patron to sustain signifi cant physical injuries to his right arm and both knees. As Patron was screaming in pain on the ground and Coworker came to assist him, Shoplifter grabbed his keys and made his getaway in Patron’s car. Patron never saw his car again.

Crimes Committed: