It’s all well and good to be a hero. Just, if you’re an employee of a Randalls grocery store, do it on your own time. That’s what an employee at their Round Rock, Texas store learned when he was fired for recovering a customer’s stolen purse.

The reason for his termination? A store policy against chasing suspects out of the store.

After hearing a woman scream about her stolen purse, [Troy] Schafer said he made a split-second decision to chase the suspect out of the store, through the parking lot and into a nearby field where police arrived to arrest the teenager and recover the purse.

“I felt I did the right thing,” said Schafer. “You protect people that need help.”

Schafer said Randalls suspended him July 22 without pay, and on July 24, the store manager let him go – citing a company policy against chasing a suspect into the parking lot.

Employees are supposed to note details and cooperate with police in order to track down criminals. Which is an understandable policy for the safety of employees, but probably not all that helpful in getting stolen purses back. Which is not likely if the victim actually wants her purse back—it’s likely to remove all of the credit cards and cash and then just throw the purse in the garbage.

Man recovers stolen purse, loses job [KXAN]

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(Photo: Rob Lee)

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