You know, in some police jurisdictions, they actually disqualify you if your IQ is too high. I have a feeling that this police officer is one of the ones hired under this policy

WLKY is my hometown, and, for the most part, the cops here aren't very good at their job.

Thing is, he clearly intended to pay. I used to work in a supermarket, and this happened frequently (not only pop, but dog food, toilet paper, etc.). It doesn't say whether he raised a fuss or not, but the it was often the case at the supermarket where I worked that we'd just direct them to the customer service desk to get the last item rung in instead of waiting in a lineup all over again.

Here's my question: was he stopped inside the store or outside the store?

Pwned

@boss_lady: Well, the article makes it seem as though he intended to pay. We're not getting both sides of the story, really.

Nice.

Way to cost your store a lifetime customer, idiot rent-a-cop!

does kind of prove the old asking for a receipt thingy

@ptkdude: Yes, this is important.

And let this be a lesson to all of those out there who say "just stop and show your receipt!" If this guy had NOT showed his receipt (which he did not have to do), then he wouldn't have wound up in jail.

This is retarded, the cop should be fired for abuse of the law.

Intent to pay is what will let him off in court. "Your Honor, I had over 90 items in two carts. I just plain forgot" Case Dismissed. If not, this will get the supermarket so much bad press if they continue pressing charges, and if they don't but the DA decides to anyway, the city will get alot of bad press. Just one "You could be fighting real crime, like armed theft or murders" and it's over.

@joemono: Who is seriously going to not show a cop his receipt?

We can argue all day long about the legality of showing a receipt, but most people are going to take the easy way out here when a pig wants to see something.

Also, why didn't the cashier point out the case of soda? Arn't they trained to look for it?

At the store near me, one cashier told me that they get dinged by secret shoppers if they forget to ask if you have anything under the cart, so I'd bet that technically the cashier was at fault too.

But, in practice, I never get asked except that one time -- the guy had just gotten the secret shopper report that day.

I sympathized with him, since I understand how easy it is to forget to ask.

I've accidentally forgotten to pay for things, too, but I've never had any problem dealing with it. If you ask they're happy enough to ring it up.

But this kind of overblown response is yet another reason why receipt checking is such a problem -- if you submit you'll get mistreated if they find ANYTHING wrong. This doesn't exactly encourage anyone to want to stop.

157 and two grocery carts? I spent $157 and all I get is a handbasket.

If that happened to me, I'd SUE. And honestly, the $4 the would've lost for the case of soda does NOT even compare to the customers that they just lost from that stupidity.

Another example of how common sense is becoming a rare commodity.

@Dobernala: Even if you don't, without probable cause they can't stop you.

$4 case of soda? It must have been the end of the month and the officer/security guard had to boost his numbers.

I'd also be willing to bet that the cop either watched this guy checkout or has seen enough people do this kind of thing to guess correctly that the guy forgot about the pop. In other words, my guess is he was just itching to arrest someone.

@cde: It says he used self checkout.

@Dobernala: Me.

"Pop"? Who calls it pop? It's soda!

Unbelievable. Anyone know the name of the store?

actually that is one of the best ways to shoplift because most people don't suspect it and if caught give you the benefit of the doubt. Trust me I've seen it numerous times working retail.

The happy birthday card inside a magazine

The 20.00 orchid with it's tag on the bottom of the plastic container placed in a 5.00 pot so the cashier rings up the pot thinking the plant goes with it

The 20lb bag of dog food carefully slit open with a ton of cold medicine placed in it.

etc. it's not always about getting everything for free but rather cutting your costs.

it could go eitherway in this case.

over $150 through the self checkout? Ugh - when I spend that much, I make a casher do the work.

Of course being arrested for that is stupid - but all the self-checkouts that I go through always ask me if there is anything on the bottom of the cart before I pay - wonder if they have that where he shopped at since a small reminder like that would have saved a lot of headaches.

After using the self-checkout for 2 carts full of groceries, I am surprised that a murder did not occur.

The security guard could detain him and see the receipt if he had a belief that he was shoplifting, I believe. So in this case, he might have had to show the receipt.

just for that im never going to broklyn

Thats absolutely obsurd

@ChrisC1234:
Ah yes, the token overly-litigious commenter. Sue them for having you arrested for theft. While I think this whole thing is dumb, he did (attempt to) take the item without paying. It's not the cops job to determine his intent. The cop's job is to say "Did you pay for this?" "No..but" "*cuffs* You go to jail". While the store never should have let it get that far, they didn't do anything "Wrong" to the point that they expose themselves to a lawsuit. They lost the customer and got a lot of bad press, that's loss enough.

@cde: @Buran: It was at a self-checkout. Though, at most self-checkouts I've been through, there's usually a cashier overseeing the self-check-out area.

I just looked at the story and saw the location: BROOKLYN, Ohio.

I thought that sounded familiar, so I looked it up to be sure - and I'll be damned if it isn't the exact same town where the cop arrested the infamous Michael Righi for not showing ID after an altercation with a Best Buy receipt checker!

Who the heck is running the Brooklyn, OH PD? These guys are idiots!

The customer should sue both the establishment and the local police department.

I'm not lawsuit-happy but this guy needs to seriously sue the heck out of the dude who arrested him. Ridiculous.

@AlteredBeast: Since you're getting technical of what it's called, in reality it's called Soft Drink. But regardless it can be called pop.

I once walked past a Target check-out with a bag of bread in my hand -- I'd been carrying it around while my mom and brother grabbed everything else and just forgotten about it. /I/ was the one who realized, but it was still awkward going "... yeah, I almost walked out of the store with this, can you ring it up?"

I didn't know it was possible to scan that many groceries through a self-checkout. The machine yells at me whenever I move a bag around on the scale; it would probably start blaring sirens and shooting flares if I ever had to remove one to make room.

Does anyone have the name and address of the store???

Also, does anyone have the contact info for the store manager?

All this over pop, I would have kicked that cops ass for being a dick.

I guess that moron would have sent my four year old to jail for 'lifting a snickers bar.

Anyone else see the irony of a cop moonlighting as a security guard. I saw a story on the news a few months ago where a man shot a security guard during a crime. The news referred to him as killing a police officer. He didn't kill a police officer, he killed a security guard.

In my opinion, this guy did not get sent to jail by a cop, but by a security guard.

As for showing a reciept, I adamantly oppose the systematic checking of receipts. However, if a security guard politely asks me if I remembered to pay for the $ in COKE (not pop, not soda) under my cart, I would be happy to show him. In reality, his asking would make me realize that I didn't pay for it.

But this moron was just on a power trip.

@Pylon83: "he did (attempt to) take the item" implies intent. If it was an accident, and there's no reason to believe otherwise, there was no intent.

I haven't forgotten to pay for a large item underneath the cart, but I have neglected to load it into my car and left it in the cart in the parking lot.

So for every "thief" like this guy, there's probably a fool like me, so it should all even out.

If you go to the news site and watch the video...

It's the Giant Eagle supermarket in Brooklyn....OHIO.

Sorry if it's already been pointed out.

@Pylon83: It's not a cop's job to ask if he paid for it, it's the store's job to notice he didn't.

@mattatwork: "I think someone might have been shoplifting" isn't probable cause in most places -- you have to be seen taking merchandise off a shelf, concealing it, then monitored til you leave the store (since you could have put it back while you were out of sight, if they don't maintain constant visual contact), and then walking out the store without paying for what you hid.

@CaptainCynic: "In my opinion, this guy did not get sent to jail by a cop, but by a security guard."

Badge? Gun? Took oath as law-enforcement officer? Yup, he's a cop.

A cop working extra duty as security is still a cop.

@Pylon83: Ahh the token commenter who makes incorrent statements about the law.

Look up your local criminal code and see how many times intent appears. It's the cop's job to determine that intent.

not a single comment about his hat...wow

@arsbadmojo: good eye!