A man who allegedly tried to steal a shopping trolley full of groceries from an east Auckland supermarket was confronted by the store’s manager and a brave community leader who filmed the incident.
Howick Local Board deputy chairperson Bo Burns was doing her family’s weekly shop at the Meadowlands Countdown on May 27 when the situation unfolded at about 10.25am.
Burns saw a man walking out of the supermarket and pushing a trolley while accompanied by a young girl.
A supermarket worker, believed to be the manager, was walking beside the man and asking if he was going to pay for the items.
Burns began filming the incident and posted it to her Facebook page.
“Everyone was turning a blind eye, as they do,” she says.
“The store manager kept saying the guy hadn’t paid. He ran back to get help so I decided to start filming him the whole way out to their car.
“The manager then came back by himself. The most terrifying thing is the public are so scared that they don’t help.
“It’s so bizarre the community has got to this point.”
A photo Burns took of the contents of the trolley the man was pushing shows toilet paper, bread, bananas, free-range eggs, salted caramel ice cream, dog food, washing powder and chocolate, among other items.
“It’s a little rich for people to say they’re in need,” Burns says.
“If you’re in need and you’re walking out with mince and rice and potatoes you’d probably be a bit more empathetic.”
She says the man began yelling that he’d paid for the groceries and waved around cash and a piece of paper as if it was a receipt.
“He left his trolley and started walking back toward Countdown.
“He came back out and then went to walk back into the supermarket.
“When he walked off the second time the manger took the trolley back.”
The man returned to his vehicle and got into it with the young girl.
Burns moved her own vehicle to block his in the car park.
She asked him if he needed help and if he knew where local food banks were.
“I said ‘there are loads of community food banks everywhere’.
“I listed two or three of them. I got in my car and reversed so he could get out and he drove off in the opposite direction to where I’d said the help was.”
Burns says she wasn’t scared for her own safety during the incident, despite filming the man.
“At the beginning when I was walking out I stayed at a distance and only saw the back of him so I didn’t know if he had knife or anything with him.
“When I followed him to the car and saw the young girl, I thought the chance of him having a gun or knife while with a child that age was pretty slim.
“So I trusted my gut and thought, ‘I’m going to block him in and go and talk to him’.
“Because if no one talks to him then how are we solving the problem?
“I am sick and tired of people sitting around and watching that s**t going on and not do anything.”
A police spokesperson says officers were called to the Meadowlands Countdown just after 10.21am on May 27.
“A man had attempted to steal a trolley-load of groceries.
“He’d fled the scene without the trolley before police arrived.
“Generally, police discourage people from taking matters into their own hands as it puts them at greater risk of harm and police are trying to avoid escalation in these situations.”
