[Rooster Cogburn]

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/CVS.homici ... 93571.html

Chicago - (CBS) No one's denying what he might have done was wrong: allegedly stuffing crayons and toothpaste into his pockets and shoplifting.
...the fact that Anthony Kyser was killed after he was caught, and allegedly choked by a store employee -- with an off-duty sheriff's officer watching it happen -- continues to hit a nerve

[phoenix]

Stuff like this is why so many stores will absolutely NOT allow employees to go after shoplifters.

[ALUmnus]

A friend of mine worked at Pier 1 Imports for quite a while, and she told us that if someone is stealing, they couldn't do anything about it. You could basically pick up a chair or picture or whatever overpriced item you wanted, and walk right out the front door, no one there to stop you. Supposedly they weren't even supposed to call police to catch the thief.

[mrmacphisto]

A friend of mine worked at Pier 1 Imports for quite a while, and she told us that if someone is stealing, they couldn't do anything about it. You could basically pick up a chair or picture or whatever overpriced item you wanted, and walk right out the front door, no one there to stop you. Supposedly they weren't even supposed to call police to catch the thief.

They would at least have to file a report to complete an insurance claim, I'm sure.

[Schfourteenteen]

All this diverts from the real issue -

Why is a grown man stealing crayons?

[LUnpretty11]

YES! Thank you sch14teen!!!

[matshark]

well i guess he wont be stealing crayons anymore, now will he?

you know, part of me goes, hmm...maybe that was a bit much to choke a man for stealing crayons, but on the other hand, why the heck is everybody taking the side of the guy that STOLE STUFF!?!?!? all this so called "social justice" crap is starting to tick me off. if people got jumped on and beaten more often for stealing stuff, they'd stop stealing it. you know what, i bet the of duty sheriffs deputy thought, good, he deserves to get his tail beat for stealing that stuff. what do you want to bet that on more than one occasion he's wanted to personally beat the tail of several people he's arrested but was prevented from doing so by the rules and regulations he has to follow. in fact, he was probably quite enjoying watching the guy get beat for shoplifting. also, why is it that everybody wants the cops to do exactly as they wish them to do, but the second they dont, they try and take them to the cleaners!?

unfortunate that the guy died, but i dont think anybody can convince me that he didnt deserve to get beat for stealing stuff from CVS. theres a toby keith/willie nelson song here that comes to mind... beer for my horses. um yes.

[El Scorcho]

...but i dont think anybody can convince me that he didnt deserve to get beat for stealing stuff from CVS.

Wow. I was thinking restitution and some minor jail time. A beating seems a tiny bit excessive.

[adam42381]

...but i dont think anybody can convince me that he didnt deserve to get beat for stealing stuff from CVS.

Wow. I was thinking restitution and some minor jail time. A beating seems a tiny bit excessive.

+1

[flamesbball84]

example A for why only properly trained employees should be allowed to confront shoplifters.

[matshark]

...but i dont think anybody can convince me that he didnt deserve to get beat for stealing stuff from CVS.

Wow. I was thinking restitution and some minor jail time. A beating seems a tiny bit excessive.

Punishment is meant to not only punish for the behavior in question, but to deter it from happening again in the future. Otherwise, a financial decision is made: if punishment for crime < gain from crime, then crime will continue. if punishment for crime > gain from crime, crime will cease.

for example, im sure someone here was given a whoopin for talking back to one of their parents when they were younger. Now, im sure you would say of this particular situation, if the store clerk had given a whoopin to the person for being rude and talking back to them (lets assume the guy didnt die, but was just beaten) that it was a bit much. However, you would also have to agree that after you received said whoopin from your parents for talking back, you thought twice before doing it again - and that eventually, said behavior ended because it just wasn't worth it to take a whoopin for talking back to your parents. (Like I said, an economic decision)

Why then do we go from saying its ok for parents to use whoopins as an appropriate method for punishing (and preventing recurrences of) unwanted behavior, but that it's not appropriate for doing the same thing with criminals?!? It's effective as a deterrent for future relapses of said unwanted behavior! (One more thought, re: jail time... would you really want to make someone sit in jail and take them out of the workforce over some crayons? the economic impact there would be several times greater than the cost of the crayons... first, they aren't working and thus not earning money to be spent. second, the products they produce are not able to be bought by the public. third, there is a cost for housing them in the jail, feeding them and providing guards to make sure they do not escape. Isn't it better to dole out a short yet severe and remembered punishment that A. discourages a repeat of said behavior, B. does not harm the economy and C. does not burden the public with the cost of keeping them locked up while they are harming the economy by not working?

I think it's pretty self-explanatory...

[flamesbball84]

here's an idea: confront the guy peacefully, get his name and other pertinent identification information, then report him - in some states he can be fined in excess of what was stolen and be required to return the stolen goods, not sure if that is the case in VA. if he doesn't cooperate and/or gets violent, turn him in to the cops. murdering the dude was 100% unnecessary regardless of rather he wrongfully stole crayons or drugs.

[matshark]

nobody's happy the guys dead, but you dont know what happened other than the store guy ended up beating him. you dont know if he peacefully confronted the guy and then the guy escalated it, or what happened. apparently the off duty sheriff's deputy didn't have a problem with what went down and i think he's in a bit better position to judge what happened... i mean, A. he was THERE (and you weren't) and B. he's in law enforcement and deals with escalation of force EVERY DAY (and you arent and dont)

and its always easy to monday morning quarterback... but guess what, you weren't there. other than accidentally killing the guy, i have no issues with the employee beating him. the employee is responsible for the merchandise in the store and he took that responsibility seriously. good for him. i can guarantee you that if the thief hadn't been killed, he would've definitely thought twice about stealing anything from that store (or likely any store) for a long long long LONG time.

after all, THAT is what punishment is for... deterrence!

[youtube]

[/youtube]

[ATrain]

This is basically a case of two grown ups acting like children. In school, if a child steals a crayon, the victim is supposed to go to the teacher and let the appropriate authorities handle it. I'm sure if a child beat someone for stealing their stuff, the school authorities would probably suspend both of them and I would have ZERO problem with that as would any reasonable adult.

Now, I realize a lot of schools (both public and private) won't do anything now a days (and neither did that sheriff's deputy), but that is a whole different topic.

[matshark]

"Now, I realize a lot of schools (both public and private) won't do anything now a days (and neither did that sheriff's deputy), but that is a whole different topic."

Hmm, see, I seem to remember you telling me you thought schools would be better if they were still allowed to spank the kids. The point is, a little whoopin goes a long ways when it comes to ensuring people behave properly. And when adults behave like children, it's best to treat them that way.

[Schfourteenteen]

In school, if a child steals a crayon, the victim is supposed to go to the teacher and let the appropriate authorities handle it.

No. The victim is supposed to acquire a new crayon of the same color and write a love note to the ugliest fat girl in the class.

That'll show him.

[ATrain]

In school, if a child steals a crayon, the victim is supposed to go to the teacher and let the appropriate authorities handle it.

No. The victim is supposed to acquire a new crayon of the same color and write a love note to the ugliest fat girl in the class.

That'll show him.

Believe it or not, that's something similar to what I did when I was 9. Except it was to the girl he thought had cooties and had a major crush on him.