Couple arrested, lose custody for 18 hours, over $5 sandwich 'theft'

[douglan]

WTF. And she even offered to pay for the "stolen" sandwiches. I could see a lot of pregnant women doing this. Safeway should be ashamed, along with child services.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45103847...ws-weird_news/

Originally Posted by Article

Couple arrested, lose custody for 18 hours, over $5 sandwich 'theft'

Hungry pregnant woman says she paid for $50 worth of groceries, but forgot about her quick bite while shopping

HONOLULU — A pregnant woman and her husband were arrested for allegedly stealing two sandwiches at a supermarket in Honolulu, resulting in their 3-year-old daughter being put into state care for 18 hours, officials said on Saturday.

The supermarket that called the police was a Safeway in Makiki, a neighborhood in Honolulu. A statement from a company spokesman said Safeway was checking on the incident.

"From our preliminary investigation, it appears we may not have handled this matter in the best possible way. We are taking this situation seriously, and giving it our full attention," Safeway said in a statement on Saturday.

The mother, Nicole Leczcyzynski, 30-weeks pregnant, was feeling faint and noshed on a chicken salad sandwich while shopping at the store on Wednesday, she said in an interview with local television station KHON.

She paid for roughly $50 dollars worth of groceries but forgot about the two sandwiches, valued at $5 each, according to Safeway.

"It was a complete distraction, distracted parent moment," Leczcyzynski told KHON.

The family was stopped by security staff while leaving the store. Leczcyzynski offered to pay for the sandwiches, she said, but the security guard called the police, the couple were arrested, and their daughter was taken into custody by Child Protective Services, a state welfare group.

.'They just took her'

"We walked a long way to the grocery store and I was feeling faint, dizzy, like I needed to eat something so we decided to pick up some sandwiches and eat them while we were shopping," she told the local station.

The couple's daughter was returned to her parents 18 hours after she was taken into custody.

"I couldn't believe this was happening because we had forgotten to pay for our sandwich," she said. "We didn't know where our daughter was, we didn't know what the situation was, she didn't have any clothes. They just took her right from the grocery store."

Both Leczcyzynski, and her husband, Marcin, were charged with theft, Honolulu police said. Bail was set at $50 apiece.

[asdfasdf]

I need a price check on 2 grapes, that's right, two measly, lousy, stinkin grapes.

[erosewater]

fry em

[FashionableFedora]

Disgraceful. Common sense and basic decency both take another blow on the chin.

[ShebaPoe]

Serious question: does the act of calling the police necessitate police action if a "crime" has occurred? Is that some sort of legal obligation police have?

Could the cop just say "you've gotta be kidding me, I'm not arresting her for that"?

[ElDucky]

Originally Posted by asdfasdf

I need a price check on 2 grapes, that's right, two measly, lousy, stinkin grapes.

Yeah you heard me Phil.

[douglan]

Originally Posted by ShebaPoe

Serious question: does the act of calling the police necessitate police action if a "crime" has occurred? Is that some sort of legal obligation police have?

Could the cop just say "you've gotta be kidding me, I'm not arresting her for that"?

i suspect that Safeway has a "no tolerance" policy for shoplifting. once they called the police, the local manager (who, according to you, has a better job than an actuary ) and the store security morons probably had to press charges. the police officer probably had no choice at that point, which is of course silly.

[Runner]

The store overreacted, and they said so, but that's what happens when they hire security officers at $8 an hour or whatever. I'm sure they'll make things right. I'm not sure the police did anything wrong. They have to deal with the crime that has been reported. I'm sure their policies are based on the assumption that in a case like this the mom is a crack head and she's using her kid and pregnancy for cover. In this case they probably shouldn't have been summoned. It's kind of like calling in the US Marines and then complaining that a bunch of people got shot.

[ShebaPoe]

Ive just joined supermarket manager outpost. In time I'll make friends there and maybe one day we'll do a meetup in Vegas.

Then I will conclusively settle the debate over which job, actuary or supermarket manager, is better.

[Pseudolus]

I don't get the "we ate the sammiches in the store" bit. Is that a legit, expected thing in this store - so long as their paid for on the way out?