Alleged South Hill shoplifter fills three carts with groceries, tangles with deputy
Sometimes grocery stores will look the other way at shoplifting — but the woman trying to haul three carts full of merchandise was too brazen for employees to ignore.
The dispatch call came Friday, Sept. 8, at 8:49 p.m. Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the store at 13308 Meridian East on South Hill. The woman, 37, was trying to take the load and leave the store without paying. The haul in the three carts tallied $2,843.17, according to a report of the incident.
When the deputy arrived, the woman tried to leave again. The deputy told her she wasn’t free to go. She didn’t agree, and tried to walk around him. He grabbed her wrist, according to the incident report.
The woman said she would cut the deputy with her knife, the report states. The deputy took her to the ground. She refused to be handcuffed, and said she couldn’t breathe. The deputy sat her up and called a second deputy to assist with handcuffs.
The woman said she was pregnant, according to the incident report. She wouldn’t talk to the firefighters who arrived to provide medical aid. She said she was fine.
“He (the deputy) was more than fair and patient with her,” said Sheriff’s spokesperson Darren Moss. “She kept trying to walk past him and moving around the carts so he couldn’t arrest her. You definitely cannot threaten to harm us with a weapon.”
The woman was booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of felony harassment and second-degree theft. A pregnancy test administered at the jail was negative.
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