THUNDER BAY – An incident that flooded social media in Facebook has led to criminal charges laid today by Thunder Bay Police.
Thunder Bay Police Service officers were dispatched to the Shoppers Drug Mart at 1186 Memorial Avenue just before 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 3, 2019, following reports of a theft.
During the investigation, police learned that a possible assault linked to this incident may have occurred.
Police conducted multiple witness interviews and reviewed video footage of an altercation between a youth and a security guard. Following this, and after reviewing other evidence, officers have charged the security guard with Assault Causing Bodily Harm.
The accused, a 29-year-old Thunder Bay man, has been released with a future court date of March 22, 2019.
The charges against the accused have not been sworn in by the courts so the Thunder Bay Police Service cannot release his identity.
After the event made it to the news, Catherine Thomas, Senior Director, External Communication, Loblaw Companies Limited told NetNewsLedger, “This is an absolutely unacceptable incident and we are deeply concerned by what happened. We take the safety of our customers, our pharmacy owners and their employees seriously”.
“Each of our stores work directly with third-party security companies to support those efforts”.
“Shoppers Drug Mart has a no-touch policy, which means pharmacy owners, their store employees and their security partners are not allowed to physically engage with anyone in our stores. This use of force and handcuffs is a clear violation of that policy”.
The parent company says that “Working with our pharmacy owner we have been in contact with the third-party security provider and have recommended disciplinary action – including restricting the security guard from working at any of our stores”.
