While grocery prices in the U.S. remain high and continue to outpace inflation, lower income households have been hit hard. As a result, recent data suggests that some consumers are even buying less groceries now than they were compared to 2022, according to McKinsey & Company. Of course, as these everyday items are essential, it can lead some desperate individuals to break the law and steal items from off the shelves. One woman in San Leandro, California was caught pilfering from a Lucky’s Supermarket recently. However, when she was caught, things quickly escalated and the security guard and the woman ended up having a tussle on the floor.
The buildup before the physical altercation is not revealed in the footage, which is recorded on a phone by a witness at the scene. Instead, the 22-second clip centers on the scuffle between the security guard and the alleged thief after the confrontation has intensified. Straightaway, the footage starts with the Lucky’s Supermarket security guard sat on top of the woman inside the grocery store. Surrounding them are some shocked onlookers and shoppers as they writhe around on the floor squabbling with each other.
“Get off me, b*tch!” yells the alleged shoplifter, as she squirms around on the ground. Surprisingly, however, the female security guard then begins to throw punches at the woman on the ground. It’s difficult to make out, as the security employee’s back is to the camera and obscures our view, but it does appear like she’s punching the woman on the floor.
You can also hear an onlooker shouting, “Get off of her! Get off of her!” directed at the security guard. As the camera pans around, you can see security guard pulling the alleged thief’s hair while she’s rolling around on the floor, before the clip cuts. Accompanying the footage is a brief description that reads, “Woman caught stealing and gets beat up by security“, with the words “San Leandro” below it.
With the shocking footage continuing to snowball online, commenters were left aghast at the way the security guard handled the situation. One Redditor simply wrote, “Gaurd [sic] is definitely gonna get fired” while another chipped in with, “Possibly more than that.” However, not everyone sided with the alleged shoplifter. Some commenters stuck up for the security guard, with one netizen simply writing, “Don’t steal” and another adding, “Don’t fight the security after you get caught stealing“. One lighthearted comment, however, took aim at the security guard’s black ankle boots, writing, “The real crime were those boots.“
At the time of writing, it’s currently unclear what the woman allegedly stole, or whether any arrests were made following the physical altercation.
