There are any number of reasons not to shop at Wal-Mart. Abhorrent labor policies, financing the conservative movement and right-wing causes, the devastating effect on local retailers, the pressure on manufacturers to build factories abroad, the puritanical sales standards … let’s just say it isn’t my favorite store.
But now there’s a new problem with Wal-Mart. They’re willing to kill people.
A man suspected of shoplifting goods from an Atascocita Wal-Mart — including diapers and a BB gun — had begged employees to let him up from the blistering pavement in the store’s parking lot where he was held, shirtless, before he died Sunday, a witness said.
An autopsy for the man, identified as Stacy Clay Driver, 30, of Cleveland, was scheduled for Monday, but officials said results probably would be delayed by a wait for toxicology tests.
Driver’s family, as well as one emergency worker, are questioning company procedure, including whether Wal-Mart workers administered CPR after they realized he needed medical attention.
When Atascocita Volunteer Fire Department paramedics arrived, Driver was in cardiac arrest, said Royce Worrell, EMS director. Worrell said Monday he heard from investigators that Wal-Mart employees administered CPR to Driver, but he was not sure that happened.
“When we got there, the man was facedown (in cardiac arrest) with handcuffs behind his back,” Worrell said. “That’s not indicative of someone given CPR.”
According to multiple descriptions of the event, Driver was accused of shoplifting, lost his shirt while breaking free of store employees’ grip, and chased down in the parking lot by four or five Wal-Mart staffers. They pinned him to the blacktop, one of them applying a choke hold, before handcuffing his hands behind his back. Driver, still face down in the parking lot, went into cardiac arrest and pleaded for medical assistance. The employees didn’t listen and Driver died.
The local sheriff’s department is investigating. Driver’s family has hired an attorney.