When criminal smash-and-grabs go unpunished – and almost ignored – by cops, company owners have two choices: sit back and watch or strike back.
Employees of Meza’s Jewelry in El Monte, California, are going viral for doing the latter.
Employees at a Los Angeles-area jewelry store chased off an alleged smash-and-grabber over the weekend after he attempted to rob the store in broad daylight, according to KABC-TV.
The incident occurred just after 2 p.m. Saturday, according to the broadcaster.
“The incident began when a man came in armed with a hammer and smashed a display case, according to employees,” the report said.
And that’s when things got ugly for the alleged smash-and-grabber.
WARNING: The following video contains violence that some viewers may find disturbing.
According to KTLA-TV, a report from El Monte police said the employees “engaged the suspect,” which is putting it mildly.
“Video from the scene shows workers fighting the suspect — whose shirt came off — and hitting him with some sort of metal rod near the store’s front entrance,” the station reported.
“The altercation eventually spilled onto the sidewalk, where the two employees eventually chased the man down the street.”
The thief nearly lost his pants in the getaway as well.
“Me, my uncle, and my dad were tugging him out,” one of the employees told KABC. “I was trying to defend my family because as you could see he was hitting my dad and my uncle.”
Employees were treated for minor injuries; no arrests were made.
However, this latest smash-and-grab raises a wider question, as a social media account noted:
“Is this what should be expected when the looting of stores without challenge is permitted?”
Is this what should be expected when the looting of stores without challenge is permitted?????
=============================El Monte in Los Angeles County
Via @ABC7:
Employees at an El Monte jewelry store punched, kicked and used a stick to fight back and chase off a suspected… pic.twitter.com/oL71uwOb5U
— Crime in NYC (@CrimeInNYC) September 3, 2023
Anyone who claims that this isn’t an issue in California is either not paying attention to the news or believes that these heinous thefts are the product of social anomie in an inequitable environment, rather than a significant moral defect.
Unfortunately, the latter parties tend to make up a majority of the California electorate, which votes for propositions and politicians who regard stealing, at least in a law enforcement setting, as if it were a Phish performance.
If you believe the outcome has been anything but predictable, there’s a good chance your surname is Soros.
Take this scene from a 7-Eleven on El Segundo Boulevard in Los Angeles last year, which became emblematic of a larger problem plaguing the state:
‘Flash Mob’ Looters Ransack Convenient Store after Street Takeover
On August 15 around 12:40am a street takeover initiated at Figueroa and El Segundo. The spectators then formed a ‘flash mob’ of looters and rushed a nearby 7-Eleven.
News Release: https://t.co/3IZOBqk0H6 pic.twitter.com/ti0SNqc9Jr
— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) August 18, 2022
Perhaps it’s hardly surprising, then, that we’re seeing scenes like this, where Stockton, California 7-Eleven workers fought back against a robber who was clearing off the shelves and refused to stop — with a bystander simply telling the employees, “You have insurance? … Ain’t nothing you can do, man.”
They did something, all right:
Got Insurance? Whoopin Yo Ass!
Black Shoplifter, behind counter at 7-Eleven in Stockton, CA using rolling trash can to steal cigarettes.
Being filmed by another black man, who says to two Indian Workers,
“You got Insurance”?
“You can’t do nothing!”
“Whoopin Yo Ass” pic.twitter.com/SA0e8cE7AL— TheQuestion (@TheQuestion5150) August 3, 2023
According to KTVU-TV, no charges will be filed against the 7-Eleven employees for the July 28 incident.
These are, nevertheless, things that should never have happened in the first place. Both the El Monte jewelry store employees and the Stockton 7-Eleven employees were lauded as heroes, but the truth is that we need a system in which retributive justice is not carried out by store personnel.
Instead, if California wants to solve its problem with smash-and-grab robberies, there’s a simple solution: start enforcing genuine deterrents and stop viewing criminals as possible rehabilitative subjects.
It’s encouraging to see these men and women fighting back. It would be much better if they didn’t have to.
