Cops arrested a San Francisco Walgreens worker for allegedly stabbing a shoplifter within the eye with a knife throughout a brawl over stolen merch early Wednesday morning.
Brutal safety digicam footage exhibits the worker following the alleged shoplifter into the road, the place the 2 commerce blows earlier than the thief sinks to the bottom, clutching his face.
The worker, who police recognized as 45-year-old Guang Hong, seems to purpose a final kick at his sufferer earlier than strolling again into the shop.
Police confirmed that the alleged shoplifter — Larry Whitlock, 30 — had been stabbed within the eye and that Hong had been arrested and booked for assault with a lethal weapon, Fox 2 reported.
Whitlock was taken to a hospital and handled for non-life-threatening accidents, and police have charged him with battery and petty theft, in keeping with the outlet.
The grisly incident got here amid a shoplifting disaster in San Francisco and different California cities as soft-on-crime legal guidelines have allowed thieves to run amok — and left retailer workers and safety guards powerless to cease them.
Till not too long ago, shoplifters may solely be charged with a misdemeanor in the event that they stole gadgets value lower than $950.
However in December, almost 70% of voters handed Proposition 36, a set of latest legal guidelines that elevated cops’ energy to crack down on thieves and made shoplifting a felony offense in lots of instances.
Some shoplifters have been sluggish to get the message; in December, a hilarious police recording revealed a pair of baffled thieves lamenting the “new legal guidelines” from the again of a squad automotive.
But Wednesday’s alleged vigilante — who faces as much as 4 years in jail if convicted — may come to remorse taking the legislation into his personal palms.
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