Nebraska bakery owner tackles teen who allegedly stole tip jar
A bakery owner in Nebraska is being praised for tackling and holding down a 90-pound teenager who allegedly stole a tip jar containing $15 – but the boy’s mother wants the woman criminally charged for going “way above the law,” according to a report.
The 14-year-old boy and a friend were at Farine + Four bakery in Omaha on Thursday when owner Ellie Pegler sprang into action during the alleged theft, the Omaha World-Herald reports.
Pegler later posted photos of the incident on her now-deleted Instagram page, complete with images of her bloodied knuckles and a warning for other would-be thieves.
“I’m tired of teenagers stealing our tip jar,” Pegler wrote, according to the report. “I tackled a kid on Leavenworth street in front of a car today. Then I asked him ‘how does it feel to be tackled by a b****?’”
Pegler held the teen against a refrigerated case for 20 minutes until police arrived, according to a second photo she posted.
The boy’s mother, Dominique Smith, said police later told her that her son refused to identify his alleged accomplice. He’s now facing theft charges in juvenile court, she said.
Smith filed a misdemeanor assault report on Sunday after her son, who is black, told her he had pain in his back due to a woman putting him “in a chokehold” before slamming him to the ground, she said.
“I think she went way above the law,” Smith told the newspaper, adding that she thought race may have played a role in the incident. “I just feel like if it was a white kid, she maybe would have cussed him out … but for her to go above and beyond.”
Pegler, who is white, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. She left Omaha to be with relatives for Thanksgiving, an employee who answered the phone told The Post.
When asked about the incident, police in Omaha cited Nebraska state law that allows for “reasonable force” to be deployed while protecting property.
“Generally, OPD recommends that civilians observe and report crimes in progress due to the potentially dangerous nature of physically intervening with a suspect,” police said in a statement. “OPD would not recommend a civilian put themselves in harms way.”
No comments:
Post a Comment