| Subject: Woman Shoplifter Flees In Wheelchair |
Author:
James
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Date Posted: 02:09:40 07/06/05 Wed
In reply to:
Moderator
's message, "Loss Prevention In The News - Funny(or)Serious" on 01:29:35 07/06/05 Wed
>Here is the thread to copy and paste Loss Prevnetion
>news stories.
Woman shoplifter flees in wheelchair
A wheelchair-bound woman didn't let her handicap hinder her escape after she was spotted shoplifting in a western Norwegian town Monday. She simply gave full power to her motorized wheelchair and sped off, crashing through a glass door and literally shaking off pursuers along the way. Shocked witnesses at the Co-op grocery store in Sandnes, outside Stavanger, described the incident as a scene taken right out of a Hollywood action film.
The drama began around 1:30pm, when a store security guard spotted the woman tucking food items into a bag. When she later cruised past the cash register line, without stopping to pay, he tried to stop her.
The woman clearly had other plans. Without hesitating, she powered past him and attempted to crash through one side of the store's double glass exit door. It held firm, so she backed up and tried crashing through the other side.
That worked. With glass splintering and flying in all directions, she made it through and took off through the parking lot, seemingly uninjured.
In hot pursuit
Store employees, alerted to the fuss, joined the security guard in chasing the woman through the lot. One of them was Geir Inge Nes, who was selling New Year's fireworks at the store's entrance.
"I managed to catch up with her and grabbed onto the chair's handles, but could only hang on for 100 meters or so," Nes told newspaper VG. "She sharply turned the chair and we nearly crashed into a car. I fell off and couldn't take any more."
Three other employees continued the chase, which moved on from the parking lot to a busy city street. "She was driving like a maniac," said Asle Hellvik. "When she headed out into the street against a red light, several cars had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting her."
'She bit me!'
The chase went on for another kilometer or so, until the woman's pursuers managed to corner her at a bus terminal in downtown Sandnes. Hellvik said he even managed to grab the key out of the wheelchair's ignition.
"But then she bit me in the thumb and hit me in the face," said the stunned Hellvik, adding that he dropped the key.
The woman retrieved it, restarted her motor and took off again, with the two others hanging onto the back of her wheelchair. But then she started zig-zagging around the terminal.
"It got so dangerous they had to hop off," said Hellvik.
The woman sped off and disappeared.
Police in Sandnes said they got their first call about the incident at 1:37pm, but weren't able to respond. They later took up the search, aided by solid descriptions of both the woman and her wheelchair.
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