Our apologies to the Brooklyn, Ohio police department. New security camera footage released by the Brooklyn police department shows that the man who claimed he “forgot” the case of pop under his shopping cart actually grabbed it on his way out of the store! Now the man admits that he lied to reporters.
Brooklyn police gave NewsChannel5 surveillance video of Sturgis at the Giant Eagle the day of his arrest.
Police said Sturgis is shown with his stepson, who was bagging the groceries at the checkout line.
But the video shows nothing beneath the cart. Sturgis paid for the groceries in the cart, but police said as he left the store, he stopped at the pop display in the vestibule, loading his cart with Pepsi.
He then left without paying for the new additions to his cart, police said.
Brooklyn Chief Mark Tenaglia said that security video shows Sturgis using a self-checkout with no items on the bottom of his cart.
Tenaglia said a second video camera shows Sturgis loading six 12-packs of Pepsi into his cart before he exited the store. The total value of the soda was $21.54 with tax.
Sturgis was arrested and charged with petty theft.
He told NewsChannel5, “It was a total lie. I did try to steal the Pepsi at Giant Eagle.” Sturgis also said that he plans to plead guilty at his arraignment.
Oh, shoplifter guy. Why did you lie to the media? The truth will always come out. The Consumerist apologizes to the Brooklyn, Ohio police department for teasing them and hopes we can remain friends. Congratulations on preventing pop theft in your area.
Surveillance Shows Man Taking Pop After Store Check-Out [NewsChannel5]
UPDATE: Consumerist has sent the following email to the Brooklyn, Ohio police department.
Dear Chief Tenaglia,
We picked up the story about the pop thief and thought it had been more thoroughly vetted by the news station that sent it to us. In retrospect, I feel my teasing was pretty mean and I hope the Brooklyn police department will accept my apology.
Stopping crime is awesome. Keep up the good work.
-Meg
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That cop was a witch ! Fire him !
Ironically, if he HAD stuffed one case under his cart before going thru the cash he probably would have gotten away with it.
Oh man, I recommend re-reading what the douchebag thief of drinks/soda/pop/cansofcarbonatedfluid said. It makes for hilarious reading once you compare against the facts.
>loading six 12-packs of Pepsi
Wow! That’s a lot of soda!
is this the same guy who steals the rock salt, mulch, and washer fluid that sit out by the gas pumps?
Now thanks to this lying thief, more innocent victims will get blamed on Consumerist because some readers will automatically assume the victim is actually lying. “Dell shipped some guy a laptop with pubes? Preposterous! The pubes were probably his and he planted them!”
@Buran: That’s a lame excuse. Commenters were jumping to conclusions and suggesting EECB’s against the city and the supermarket (which was done), based on a decided lack of knowledge of the entire story. Saying “that’s all the knowledge I had a the time” is no excuse.
And once again Consumerist should be embarrassed. I wonder if they’re taking yet another screwup seriously.
I believe that making this story front page (including the “LIAR!”) is a sign that the Consumerist wants to report honestly. They could have never mentioned this, or made it a small story. Instead, they put a humble apology. I think that the Consumerist did the right thing.
@GrandizerGo: My asian market has all the rice beyond the register. When you go to the checkout you say “I want the 50lb bag of pink” They ring you up, and on you’re way out you pick up your bag. It means I don’t have to lug this 50lb bag all through the store while I pickup other items.
@mariospants: If you had been at Walmart, I could understand you just standing there and watching them get away with that, but at our beloved Costco? Shame on you! I would’ve roller derby slammed the whole family with my cart and sat on them until the cops got there for Costco.
This makes a whole hell of a lot more sense then what was first thought.
I’m not going to retract my previous comment on the other article since I made a pretty broad statement without stating my conclusion. I still believe that punishments should be proportional to the crime.
In Sturgis’ case, the arrest seems to be justified enough since he did seem to have intent to steal plus he lied to the public. With that said, sharp eye, officer.
@Git Em SteveDave: How does Quicktime piss the PC users off? It’s a bloated, overrated software and video system but just about every.
@GrandizerGo: It must be a trap by the police or a deliberate test of your morals.
@mariospants: There may be more than two sides of a story. That’s a media (and cultural) bias to automatically assume that there’s only there’s only two.
@Victo: Why? If I have an opinion about something based on all the information I have at the time I form the opinion, why should I be sorry for having the opinion? If you tell me the sky is green and I form an opinion shaped by that fact, and don’t know that you’re wrong (and nor do you, for whatever reason) and you were actively misled, why is it my fault that my opinion was correct?
It’s not, nor is it your fault, because someone actively misled you. I don’t retract opinions that were correct as far as I knew at the time they were formed and I don’t apologize for having them, either. It wasn’t our direct actions that led to the incorrect opinions.
@rjhiggins: It’s plenty of ‘excuse’. It’s a very plausible story, as I and others have already explained.
If the store wants to blame anyone, it needs to blame the guy who actively deceived them, the police, and the media. If the store wants to complain that some were quick to side with the man, it should look at other businesses that spoiled it for them with irresponsible actions.
@Buran: You can form all the opinions you want; I don’t care. But there is such a thing as an informed opinion, which is one I might actually want to listen to.
Consumerist took its action (casting aspersions on the police) and commenters took theirs (spreading e-mail addresses and phone numbers encouraging people to take action) based on very little information. You may make excuses for them, but I won’t.
I blame the news station peoples.
@rjhiggins I think the larger issue is that so many people were completely ready to believe the original story without proof. That’s terribly sad and speaks volumes for the state of the average American’s mind these days.
Someone made a good point in another thread about people just feeling besieged from every angle these days: the toothless FDA allowing poisoned toys and food into our homes, Big Oil’s profiteering, the RIAA perverting the courts, GWB making a mockery of our rights, our government’s illegal wiretapping of its own citizens, jobs being shipped overseas, the filthy swines gaming the mortgage, banking, and stock market industries, health insurance companies that routinely deny patients the legitimate care that they paid for and deserve, and a corrupt congress and president that smirk and look the other way while we get dogpiled by the shameless greed of powerful global corporations.
Under the circumstances, is it really a stretch to believe an indignant store owner and overzealous cops arrested a guy for forgetting to pay for some soda?
If this had happened ten years ago, nobody would’ve believed that guy for a second. Nowadays, people believe a story like this in a heartbeat.
Perhaps those of you who called the cop and the police force of that town idiots should apologize?
Yeah, shame on Consumerist for not having a crack team of verifying reports stationed at JFK next to the Gawker Media fleet of private jets, to personally interview every party in a story that appears here.
Geezus, whiners. Create your own blog and leave us alone.
PS: nice to see the Gawker weblords are working to allow us to post images on the fly, while still leaving us stranded as far as weeding out trolls. Great sense of priorities, Nick!
Federal pound me in the ass prison…make room for this doosh!
Finally, a story that reveals ticket checking at the door really does work.
Job well done by the store and local PD.
Thank you Consumerist editors for admitting your prior mistake.
And to the local media, your failure to properly review the facts in the case before releasing your newstory is the cause of the Consumerist error.
Somebody at the local media should be looking for new employment.
The chief wants to pop you in the head.
Quit calling it pop, you freaks.
I bet this jack off stole more then just the soda. I mean think about it, who buys 2 carts worth of stuff and goes through self checkout. The soda was just the most blatant thing that got him caught.
This guy was caught stealing with his son in tow, that just shows how much of a jack off he is.
what an incredible stupid thing to do, steal pop of all things – it’s about $5-6 dollars..is that really worth going through trial over?
The suspect was also quoted as saying “And I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling kids and your stupid dog!”
Seriously, comments are based on what people think are the facts, so DUH..of course people would be ragging on the cops because they assumed everything they read was absolutely true.
Mr. Sturgis, you are a first class douchebag. Could we have a public stoning?
@Buran: If your opinion was spoken/written out loud and insulting. Then you have to apologize to the person you insulted. Or you’re worse douchebag than the original liar. Words can hurt a lot, too.
I’ll give you an extreme example : it’s like screaming at a women that she is a whore, only to discover that she was abused by the person who lied initially.
Initial guilt is on the liar, but ”your” actions based on your opinion are insulting and damaging to the real victim. As a human, apology should be provided.
(However, when you keep your opinion to yourself, then your thoughts are yours.)
@MyEasyTV: Well, he already said that he pleads guilty, so no trial.
I’d ”award” him with several hours of community work, so at least he’ll do something useful. Or maybe a fine.
@Imaginary_Friend: In most police departments, arresting someone, means hours of writing up reports. (Which clogs the system for small crimes, especially that peace officers has to ”presume” the crime in the paperwork, even if the criminal was caught red-handed). So arresting someone for a 12 pack of coke could be done, but it would mean a lot of after arrest ”composing”.
what a cock. hope he ends up someone’s prison bitch.
Meg,
With your permission, I’d like to put
‘Stopping crime is awesome. Keep up the good work.’ on a bumper sticker.
Lemme know if that’s okay.
D
I think most cops can tell when someone amateur is stealing something just based on their movements and facial expression.
On the other hand – it’s amazing how invisible you are when you’re not intentionally trying to steal something. Today I was to the door of the convenience store when I realized I hadn’t paid for my drink in my hand at the back register like I usually do. I walked past the front counter / security guy, no problem. (I went back and paid for it.)
Wow, could Consumerist’s apology have sounded any more condescending and patronizing?
You could also pat them on the head and say, “Who’s a good widdle cop?! You are! YOU ARE!”
Wow, I called for the store and the police department to be sued.
My bad. A good reminder to not jump the gun.
Oh Meg, you’re so awesome.
Glad the real story got out.
OK:
Judging from what information was available to me at the time, I was inclined to believe the man that was arrested. Now that I have all of the information, I am not.
I apologize profusely for my comments about the officer. I was wrong.
Well, I’m still not sorry for calling it “pop” rather than “soda”.
Bad angry comment: “WTH, that cop should be fired immediately! And the victim should sue for all he’s worth! Those jerks!”
Good comment: “If the police department did behave this badly, the offending officer’s actions need to be looked at. If he arrested somebody for this, then he shouldn’t be working there anymore.”
You don’t even have to be so nice in the good comment, you just should maybe think to say “IF” and realize that who cares what information is available at the time? Ignorance is no excuse. Everybody who read that story knew that the police hadn’t made a statement to confirm or deny. So you knew just as well that you didn’t have the whole story.
As often happens, ‘outraged’ comments are about as sophisticated as “mean people suck”.
Hopefully the rush to judgment on the original post has chastened those among us who automatically assume an offensive posture when we hear even manifestly dubious stories. Let’s take it easy for a while, lest we be (correctly) marginalized as a bunch of witch hunters, yeah?
Upon reading the prior post, I quickly reached the conclusion that it was the soda company’s fault. BigPop (just like Big Oil and Big Pharm) is the obvious culprit here. Its victims? (1) the shopper, who became subliminally manipulated by the packaging of the soda (what with all those subliminal embeds – few know this, but most packages of sode had a hidden “Please steal me” message. The idea is that otherwise decent people will be persuaded to steal, thereby causing the retailer to have to buy more soda. Another victim (2) is the retailer – which, of course, lost money on the soda. Yet another victim (3) is the police officer – who had to bear the wrath of people like us who misjudged the case.
BigPop is to blame, the sobs. Boycott soda – save a good police officer’s reputation,
@Rode2008: @Rode2008:
I love how it says he’s with his step son. Great example there “dad” – idiot! “No, it’s okay son – as long as you don’t get caught.” Moron!
Reminds me of one of my workers. Couldn’t come to work Monday because he was in jail… for shoplifting a 20# bag of dog food. I asked him “Why?”
“cuz my pit bull pups were hungry”
“But you got paid on Friday!”
“Yeah, but I spent it all on weeeeeeeed”
Apparently, a cashier saw him grab it on the way out. Those were entertaining days with the crew of low-life’s and their Greek tragedies. So many stories.
If they had a receipt checker this would never have happened.
*puts on flamesuit*
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