The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

WANTED: Thief who hit Walmart greeter in the head with a bottle

by •

This image was captured from surveillance video taken of an incident on May 28 at Walmart, located at 37140 47TH Street East in Palmdale.

PALMDALE – Do you recognize the man in these surveillance photos? If so, Palmdale Station detectives would like to hear from you.

The man tried to steal two bottles of liquor from an east Palmdale Walmart last month, detectives said. When the door greeter asked the man for his receipt, the man cracked the employee over the head with one of the liquor bottles and fled, leaving the employee with a large laceration on his head and a possible facial fracture. The man is now wanted for assault with a deadly weapon.

The following is the press report from the Palmdale Station:

On May 28, 2012 at approximately 10:19 p.m., an employee of Walmart was hit over the head with a liquor bottle and suffered serious injuries.

The employee, who was working as a door greeter, noticed the suspect walking out of the store with two bottles of liquor that had not been paid for.

When the employee asked the suspect for a receipt, the suspect turned and struck the employee with one of the bottles.  The suspect fled the location.

The photos were taken of surveillance video of the incident.  We need the public’s help.  Anyone who may recognize the suspect or has information regarding this case is encouraged to contact the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station at 272-2400. The case is being handled by Detective Bartlett.

The victim was taken to the hospital where he received sutures for a large laceration on his head and a possible facial fracture.

Updated 6/23/12: The Walmart greeter was fired the day after the incident for failing a drug test, the AV Press reports.

–

Filed Under: Crime/ Safety

35 comments for "WANTED: Thief who hit Walmart greeter in the head with a bottle"

  1. Sad that the greeter got fired. I am not surprised. Remember the Home Depot guy that got fired for stopping the shop lifter. The business (Walmart) doesn’t want the liability and thieves know that no one will stop them. That’s why they keep doing it.

    • “The Walmart greeter was fired the day after the incident for failing a drug test, the AV Press reports.”

      So lesson learned: don’t take non doctor prescribed drugs or drink on the job and try to work at Wally’s World.

      By the way, most large companies require employees who are involved in any accident or other incident at work to be drug tested after an incident.

      • ok the man was tested for drugs,it says so n the report,but itdoesnt say what was in his system and if he takes prescribed medications then thre is a possibility that he got a bad result.It happens all the time!!! the thing is he was doing his Job!!Walmart Fired him because of “liability clauses” but they know a man king minimum age at less than 30 hous a week cant afford to fight them in court,and he would rather find a new job than take the time to fight it because he needs to survive.. F…Walmart!!There are several people out there that have been done wrong by them and they should all get together and file class act suits against Walmart!!!

        • Yea sure, his EZPee or masking agent or the stiff shots of morning courage or whatever. By the way idiot, company’s can’t say what an employee tested positive for under privacy laws.

          If you want a real job, be aware real companies protect themselves from frivolous law suits by drug testing anyone who is injured on the job, including it seems being hit over the head.

          Far as your nonsense about prescribed drugs, give me a break. It’s not the first rodeo for any company when it comes to drug testing and a doctor’s treatment and or prescription of drugs along with side effects are well understood and documented.

          • Not all real companies drug test everyone who is injured on the job. I’d suggest this guy looks for a good union job so he has some protection from being fired for something like this in the future.

  2. The whole situation in general doesn’t surprise me…people (white/black/hispanic,etc)…do grab and runs all the time in that specific store…and for Walmart to fire that greeter after the incident over a “drug test” which in my opinion is complete crap. The man probably was on some kind of medication due to his elderly state…He has a broken face for God’s sake and the theif could have just ran past him like everyone else does (sad to say) and dude didn’t have to crack the greeter with the bottle…This town in itself is a complete mess…

    • Typical Walmart to do something stupid like this. He was taking something for his glaucoma in his personal life and this happens. Why does Walmart have to do a drug test? He got attacked, not the other way around. That is a bull[removed] policy they have. This man is what 65 years old and having to work at a place like Walmart because he is trying to get buy making a little extra money. Who wants to work at a Walmart at that age? Walmart treats there employees like crap and everyone knows it and this action justifies it.

      • with the New Laws In california,If the Man a using MJ as medication he has a legal fight n his hands:)hoe he has a card fr the “Meds”
        Perscription drugs also td t lead to false tests

      • You must be an unemployed stoner I guess. No real company wants to hire or keep employed people who are using illegal drugs.

        Enjoy your EBT card fool.

  3. ahhhh another crime filled night in the av. poor walmart greeter. its a shame when you cant even have a safe place to work here in welfaredale CA lololololol

  4. Instead of security cameras, why not hire sharp-shooters and place them strategically around Lancaster and Palmdale shopping areas…….

  6. Yeah, how *ARE* we supposed to recognize anything about him except that he’s black? Oh wait, that’s racist to say that. Nope, not a clue.

    It does amaze me how huge corporations like Walmart have such inferior surveillance systems. Fact is, they are not really looking at them to control loss. They price in the loss, and they train their employees not to stop shoplifters to avoid liability of injury to the employees.

    • Yep. I agree with you on this one. I just can’t understand the mentality of these MBA’s that run these stores. They get cameras to “prevent” crime from happening, when everybody knows that the only thing a camera could possibly be good for is identifying the suspect(s) after the crime has occurred, then they get the cheapest cameras with resolution so bad that you can’t get a decent description on who the suspect was!

      Freakin’ brilliant.

  7. i hope the guy gets caught and justice be served like 5 years or 10 that is total bs and he needs to be held responsible.

    • I agree David! glad you are trying to straighten out your life and it sounds like your coming to your senses more and more each day!

  8. If I worked at Walmart, I would have LET the guy walk out. I doubt Walmart pays enough to risk themselves. Why does Walmart hire ‘theft control’ if it’s the greeter who’s asked to check receipts!?!
    POOR guy, I hope no long term damage follows…

  9. To bad he did not hit store manager of west Lancaster Roy what a ass he is and a BIG PIG……

  10. They need a better in-store camera, preferably with the highest definition possible. These stills look like they are from am 80s vhs tape.
    Never catch this guy.

  11. No, no problems here in the AV… No no problems in this town with young black men victimizing innocent people… the only problem here is a bunch or racist white folks picking on minorities for being on section 8…gimme a break people in this town sound racist because they are genuinely in fear because of an undesireable influx over the past decade of young black men who victimize our community… I challenge somebody to compile the arrest stats by race where the suspect was unknown to the victim ( ie robbery, assault, burglary, carjacking) the type of crimes that normal harworking people find themselves the victim of… people are in fear and not because they are racist, its because they are smart enough to identify a pattern!!!

    • I agree with you 100%. People always pull out the race card but stats don’t lie. You can read the arrest logs here and see who has been arrested. I suppose the prison population stats are incorrect too?

      • Why don’t question all the employees from Walmart he”ll probably have some connections there.

        • Rome, Rome, Rome… reading comprehension most not have been your best subject… so let me lay it out for you…
          1. My post was specific to the antelope valley
          2. Using your link black males make up 29.1 percent of ca prison population
          3. In Ca blacks make up 6.2% of the population
          4. That means that 6.2% of californias population has a nearly 30% representation in our prisons….in other words the criminal element in that race has a five times greater representation.
          5. All things being equal if all groups had an equal criminal element the Ca prison pop would mirror our state demographics…But they dont!!!
          Please dont distort what im saying to paint me as racist… What pisses me off is that nobody acknowledges these facts… and the naacp points the finger at everyone when the problem lies in the black community and can only be fixed by the black community!!!!

    • Another Compton/South Central transplant no doubt! damn I hate ghetto people so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • To bad he didn’t hit store manager of west Lancaster Roy what a ass he is and a BIG PIG