Today after lunch our whole family took an outing to SLC to the new City Creek shopping center. Each had something they were looking for–John went with the boys and found shoes and jackets and pants. I went with Claire to H&M and The Loft. In H&M we had some pretty exciting entertainment. Minutes before, a kid had been to the register where we were being helped. He was not far from us after his exchange, when 2 security police men appeared and ran after him; he bolted. They caught him and wrestled him to the ground, taking several racks of clothing down with them. The kid was probably in his early 20s, strong and feisty. The two large officers were both on top of him on the ground, fighting to get handcuffs on him. They could not pin him and had to keep yelling at him to stop resisting, but he didn’t. There was a store security lady right there in the fray as well.

We watched the entire take down, which lasted at least 10-15 minutes. They finally got him cuffed and got him up and took him out. We learned that he had purchased clothing previously, taken it home, and returned with his receipt. Then he re-selected the same items and took them to the register to return them for cash back. He had already made that transaction when they caught him.

When we asked the sales guy at the register how they caught him, he said that lady was a store security guard who poses as a shopper and circulates through the store all day every day, watching people. He said, “she’s very good at what she does.” He also said, “we have really good cameras too.” I’m still not sure how they knew what he had done, but they were onto it. He’s probably not sleeping very well tonight. I wonder what the consequences will be.

I also couldn’t help but wonder what life choices led him to this and I was grateful for my honest good sons. I hope that kid will learn that being dishonest is never a good choice.