Cop allegedly pulled gun on pregnant woman over too many grocery items

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Cop allegedly pulled gun on pregnant woman over too many grocery items

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/10/cop-allegedly-pulled-gun-on-pregnant-woman-over-too-many-grocery-items/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29

By Stephen C. Webster
Friday, February 10, 2012 15:02 EST



Police in Kendall County, Illinois said Friday that they were investigating whether an off-duty officer drew his firearm and pointed it at a pregnant woman because she had more items than Walmart recommends for self-checkout lanes.

Nicole Thurmond and husband Jason were reportedly checking out recently at a Walmart store in Oswego, Illinois when a man confronted them wearing civilian clothing, not identifying himself as an officer. The couple said it was only after his gun was drawn that the man told onlookers he was a police officer.

Nicole Thurmond told NBC Chicago that officer Craig French just walked up to her and said, “Don’t you know how to count? You are holding up the whole store.”

When her husband returned from getting an item they forgot, he described the situation he encountered as “a guy in her face, yelling at her.”

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. bring on the surveillance tapes... nt

[rfranklin]

3. Tapes mysteriously erased....

happens all the time.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. since it was wal mart doing the taping

i bet it comes up at some point. wal mart will use it to protect themselves...

sP

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. That was an egregious move on the cop's part.

I mean...because she had more items than Walmart recommends for self-checkout lanes?

It's a recommendation......not a rule.

A bit of over-kill, if you ask me.

[southernyankeebelle]

4. Well there goes his manners out the window. Couldn't he see she was pregnant? My goodness.

What is this world coming to.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

8. the gun did not come out until her husband shoved the off duty cop

not that it is ok...but headline is misleading if not an outright lie.

sP

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. Bullshit.

The couple said it was only after his gun was drawn that the man told onlookers he was a police officer.

When her husband returned from getting an item they forgot, he described the situation he encountered as “a guy in her face, yelling at her.”

If I walked up to a guy who was "in my wife's face, yelling at her," I'd push the LIVING FUCK out of him. He didn't identify himself. She wasn't "breaking the law." He crossed a line. FUCK him.

The headline is not "misleading" and it sure as fuck is NOT "an outright lie."

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. the gun came out after physical contact

hell, the husband even admitted it...the headline is therefor a lie.

what the fuck are you so jazzed about?

sP

[lildreamer316]

26. *therefore*

nm

[ProdigalJunkMail]

35. wow...thank you, proof-reader extraordinaire...

sorry i missed a character and it offended you so much you felt the need to post about it...

fo...

sP

[Bonobo]

32. You don't point a gun at someone unless you intend to kill them. nt

[ProdigalJunkMail]

37. plenty of people point guns at people

with the intent of doing nothing more than scaring them...

sP

[moriah]

41. And they're idiots.

The Four Rules:

1) All guns are always loaded.
2) NEVER point a gun at something you are not willing to destroy.
3) Keep your finger off the trigger until you are on target and have made the decision to shoot
4) Be sure of your target and what is beyond it

A gun should never be drawn until and unless you have decided that deadly force is necessary to protect your own life or the lives of people around you.

[LadyHawkAZ]

42. THANK YOU!! n/t

[Bonobo]

43. Yup, that's the FIRST thing you learn.

Unless you're a fucking idiot.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

46. and you suppose the off-duty here ISN'T a fucking idiot

the whole story screams 'idiot with a badge'...

sP

[ProdigalJunkMail]

45. once again, i agree...

but it doesn't change the fact that people don't follow these rules...

sP

[moriah]

49. And I wish that there were fewer idiots in the world.

Sadly, wishing Darwin would take care of the situation is not the best idea… all too often the idiots hurt other people instead of themselves.

A cop should know better, though.

[piedmont]

11. "Cop alledgedly pulls gun in dispute over too many grocery items"

there, fixed it for you, and the cop still comes off as a hugenormous douche bag.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

16. I agree with you...

and I was not accusing YOU of writing a bullshit headline. no need for YOU to change anything...you took it from the story as anyone would. the story is bad enough as it is...there was no need to make up crap in the headline...

sP

[piedmont]

22. Touchy, touchy!

I was pointing out that the headline was perfectly correct except for the omission of two words. Whether the headline writer omitted them or someone else cut them out to save space is unknown.
Regardless, the jack-ass picked a fight over groceries, and when confronted for his out-of-line behavior he pulled a gun. The situation was created entirely by him...because of GROCERIES.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

23. the headline writer did it to get attention on the story

dollars to doughnuts...

sorry you think i am being touchy, just hate the state of 'reporting'. this is another example of poor journalism.

sP

[Aerows]

12. How many men

WOULDN'T shove some strange man out of the face of their pregnant wife? I'd like to think most would. Threatening a pregnant woman could cause her to get so upset she goes into labor prematurely, and certainly is beyond the realm of civilized society in any case over such a petty issue.

Whoever this cop is, he's got a serious anger management problem if he's flipping out on pregnant women in Wal-Mart for having too many items in the self-checkout lane.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

15. i don't disagree with you one bit...

the problem is simply in the outrageous headline. why write bullshit when the story itself is bad enough???

sP

[alphafemale]

13. You see these things all the time.

Sounds like all parties involved became unhinged.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

17. i am with the hubby

you get in my wife's face yelling at her and you can bet your sweet ass i will step between you and separate you. the only one who lost it here is the off duty officer...who probably should have bit his tongue if he was having an issue.

sP

[obamanut2012]

19. He had a right to protect his wife from a man assaulting her

And, he was legally assaulting her. He was off duty and not responding to any crime. He was out of line and should be fired, because he is a ticking lawsuit for his employer.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

20. don't disagree with you one bit...

just amazed that with a story as bad as it is, the article headline is just wrong. the ass pulled his gun because he got shoved...regardless of whether he deserved to be shoved or not. he didn't point the gun at the woman because she had too many items in her cart.

sP

[provis99]

36. too many groceries in the cart was the proximate cause

so yes, he pulled his gun because she had too many groceries.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

38. baloney...

using that logic you could extend it to, "Cop pulls gun on woman because she got out of bed." The contact was the cause...

sP

[provis99]

39. you don't seem to understand the legal definition of "proximate cause"

educate yourself.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

47. so, then educate me...

proximate cause relies on 'forseeability' (god, i hate that word). where exactly does it lie when a woman with too many items in her cart results in an idiot off-duty cop pulling a gun?

sP

[RKP5637]

5. They're lucky he didn't taser them to death for such an outrageous

offense. I often wonder how many police departments do a psychological profile on people before hired.

[Fumesucker]

9. If you're too smart they don't want you for a cop..

http://nyletterpress.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/police-reject-candidate-for-being-too-intelligent/

A US man has been rejected in his bid to become a police officer for scoring too high on an intelligence test.

Robert Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took an exam to join the New London police, in Connecticut, in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125.

But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

[RKP5637]

29. Yep, clearly the higher ups don't want anyone that could challenge them. I recall

well once a senior manager telling me they refused to hire an individual because they could take/do their job easily. And, nothing better than dumb brutes to do your bidding. Amazing, isn't it ...

[joshcryer]

7. Wal-Mart does not enforce this policy unless it's an extreme case.

I've seen people with entire buggies full of stuff, 30-40 items get away with it, I asked a cashier once what the deal was with that and she said that they're told not to enforce it.

[alphafemale]

18. Or when someone goes through with a buggy full of stuff and checks them out ten items at a time.

FIVE times.

[alittlelark]

24. That just happened to me at the local produce store.

She separated out items and had them rung up on 3 different receipts. It took 4-5 times longer than it should have.

[lonestarnot]

25. Maybe "she" was buying food for three different homebound individuals.

Ever think of that? They have to eat too.

[alphafemale]

31. Doubtful. Even so, she should use a regular lane.

It's very rude to hold up other people who really did come in for an item or two.

[onethatcares]

21. first question.

how far over the limit of self checkout were they?

#2: were they really holding up the entire store??

jeeeeeezzzzz Loweze, imagine carrying a felony record around the rest of your life for having too many groceries
run thru a checkout line in a grocery store.

[demmiblue]

30. I am thinking, yes, you are alone in thinking this. n/t

[Missy Vixen]

34. And your point? n/t

[Cali_Democrat]

28. Then the African American husband is arrested and charged for protecting his wife from the POS cop

Fucking bullshit!

[RebelOne]

33. OMG! Does that mean that I could have been arrested today

because I checked out with 20 items in the 15 items only lane?

[ellisonz]

40. The charge against the husband should be dropped...

...and the officer should lose his job and face criminal charges. You do not draw and point a firearm unless you feel your life is in imminent danger.

Guns Guns Guns - The Answer

[ashling]

44. I remember when a store cop in Jackson, MS at Jitney Jungle

actually shot a guy who was running out with a six pack of beer. At the time my wife was an officer in a development and training organization (I dont rem3emer the name, the American Society of something) anyway, a few weeks later I was at a meeting and sat at a table with the human resources lady from Jitney,


When I lived in Washington state I worked one Christmas season at Fred Meyer (in electronics). We had to do training as a cashier at their training store. We were told that if the alarm goes off or if you see someone running out of the store with something you let them go.

[leveymg]

48. Excessive use of force. This is why the Department issued you a Taser. Follow protocol next time.

Two-day paid suspension. Next. . .