A Lowe's employee in Georgia was recently fired for a "violation" of policy after she attempted to stop shoplifters stealing from the store.
The Rincon Police Department wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday that it was searching for two individuals "who stole over $2,000.00 dollars' worth of merchandise and assaulted a 68-year-old worker who made contact with them as they exited the store." The theft, which occurred on June 25, had three suspects involved, with police saying that "two of the three suspects are at large."
According to the police department, employee Donna Hansbrough attempted to thwart the shoplifters by grabbing a shopping cart that contained stolen items that they were pushing. Police said that while she did not make direct physical contact with any of the individuals, "Lowes stated that Donna's actions (grabbing the cart) was a violation of their policy and Donna was terminated as a result." Police added that Hansbrough had been an employee for Lowe's for 13 years.
After Hansbrough attempted to stop the thieves by grabbing their shopping cart, she was struck in the face three times by suspect Takyah Berry, which caused her "right eye to swell and blacken," according to police.
"The total value of the merchandise that was stolen is $2,101.00. The two male subjects were identified as Jarmar LAWTON and Joseph BERRY. Joseph and Takyah are uncle and niece," the police wrote in its Facebook post.
Police are still actively searching for Takyah Berry and her uncle, Joseph Berry, and are asking the public for help.
Newsweek reached out to Lowe's for comment via email and through its website.
Hansbrough's termination comes a few weeks after two employees at Lululemon were fired after they tried to stop shoplifters from stealing merchandise at a store in Georgia. Last month, Jennifer Ferguson and Rachel Rogers were fired from the apparel company for violating a company policy that prohibits them from engaging with shoplifters.
While speaking with CNBC last month, Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said, "We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging during a theft."
McDonald added that the employees, or educators as they are called at Lululemon, are trained to let the theft occur and later work with law enforcement to find the individuals who committed the crime.
"Unfortunately in this situation the educators knowingly broke the policy, engaged with the thieves across multiple points—including following them out of the store—so post investigation and the zero-tolerance policy, which is well known, that was what resulted in the termination," McDonald said.
In 2016, Lowe's employee Norma Haden was fired from her position after interfering with a shoplifter by calling the police, local news station KWCH 12 in Wichita, Kansas, reported at the time.
Haden told KWCH 12 that she was informed by a member of the human resources department that she was required to have a manager call police for the shoplifter instead of calling them herself. A Lowe's spokesperson told the station in 2016 that the home improvement store has a policy focused on keeping employees safe when dealing with shoplifters.
