Though it looked similar to other posts on the Winter Haven Police Department Facebook page asking for help finding people who swiped goods from the local Walmart, responses to this one were different.
Photos in the now-removed Sept. 18 post showed a man who had tried to use two different credit cards in the store’s self-checkout line to buy diapers at around 4:30 p.m. Sept. 15. He was holding one child in his arms and another by the hand. After leaving the store empty-handed the man returned, this time without the children. He filled a cart with some items and left without paying.
“So when your card is declined and you try another one with the same result, that is NOT license to just walk out with the items anyway,” said the Winter Haven police, according to a screenshot published by The Washington Post.
Many people disagreed, said the outlet.
“Doubt I will get a response, but I will pay for these items as long as you leave this man alone,” 16-year-old Elizabeth Fiedler commented when she saw the post come up on her Facebook timeline. More than 4,000 people liked her comment.
Thousands of people shared the department’s post and thousands joined the comments section to weigh in on the decision to publicly shame the man for taking diapers. In addition to Fiedler, others offered to pay for the man’s items, including Brooke Brennan, a 34-year-old college student and mother of four from Fort Lee, Va.
“Lower-income people are especially feeling the effects,” Fiedler said in an interview with The Washington Post. “No one wants to be poor. No one should ever feel the need to steal out of necessity in one of the world’s richest countries.”
Police said in a statement that Walmart asked the department to file a report and press charges, The Washington Post said.
“We are obligated to move forward,” wrote Jamie Brown, public information officer for the Winter Haven police. She assed that the department often utilizes social media to find crime suspects when they do not know their names. Other posts asking for help identifying suspects can be found on the department’s Facebook page.
Walmart did not respond to a request from The Washington Post for comment.
By Sept. 23, Walmart had decided not to move forward with action against the man, said a follow-up Facebook post.
“As a parent, I sympathized with the gentleman because there is no greater hurt than needing something for your child and not having the ability to obtain it,” said Crystal Maddox, a 38-year-old real estate agent from Florida who saw the post. She said she was happy to see that Walmart and the police would not pursue charges against the man.
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