Disabled teen arrested for stealing food from work, so citizens rally to help him.
Many would say that America has a food problem. The United States wastes about 33 million tons of food each year, according to the National Resource Defense Council. That figure includes food wasted in people's homes, schools, and restaurants, but one in eight Americans are food insecure, meaning they either don't have enough to eat or don't know where their next meal is coming from.
These figures seem contradictory to each other, but for one young man in Ohio, it seems the reality of these two truths collided. James, 16, is reportedly a disabled teen from Seven Hills, Ohio, who, until recently, was an employee of Meijer, a chain grocery store. The teen was terminated from his job after being arrested for stealing food from Meijer, but people are questioning the store's actions and it may be for good reason.
Chicken wings and fresh fruit cups: a delightful duo! 🍗🍓🍍Photo credit: Canva
After the video of James being arrested went viral, more context was provided, which has created a community of support for the teen. It was then that it was discovered that the manager noticed James removing fruit cups and cooked chicken from the bin marked to be thrown away. Instead of informing the teen that there was a policy against eating food marked to go into the trash, or inquiring about the teen's food situation at home, she watched him take food for three months.
After three months, the total amount of food eaten was a little more than $100. The store then called the local police department and had the teen arrested for theft. In addition to the manager's decision not to inform the child that he was doing something wrong, many people are confused about how he can be charged with stealing food that was essentially in the trash.
The strange scenario is something that other retailers have also questioned in the comments of the now-viral video. There was also a consistent questioning of why the adults in the situation didn't inquire if the child was in need or attempt to offer support or local resources. Some people are even calling for a boycott of the grocery store chain after the incident with one person saying, "Sounds like a good idea to boycott Meijer I would never shop or give any affiliated company another dime."
One person can't figure out the math that equates to the boy stealing, writing, "If it was trash then it no longer has value to the store. He ate $0 worth bc those cups weren’t worth anything anymore."
Another says, "Now I will not be shopping at meijers, what they should have done is asked him if everything was okay at home, and OFFERED him deli food for lunch. The world is so disgusting!"
Meijer released a statement on their Facebook page explaining that the incident happened last year and they've implemented a new procedure to ensure this doesn't get repeated.
Meijer StatementMeijer Facebook
"This is so wrong on so many levels! If he was hired with a disability, the least they could do is see why he’s having this kind of behavior. Maybe he doesn’t have food to eat at home and he’s resorting to eating most likely expired food because he’s hungry. This is called bad management," someone else points out.
"A good manager would have helped and treated them like a person, this is a reflection, not just on the company, but also the individual who chose to do this to another human being. In fact a human being. They probably worked with and saw 40 hours a week," another commenter scolds.
Caution: video below uses explicit language near the end.
The situation prompted more than just calls to boycott; registered nurse Kerry Campbell created a GoFundMe to help James with legal fees and living expenses. The fundraiser quickly raised nearly $40K in less than a few days but it took Campbell some time to locate James. When he was located, it was discovered that the incident happened a year ago but the body cam footage was recently uploaded to the Internet.
James is now working a new job. Currently, the GoFundMe is unavailable until James formally claims his status as the beneficiary. Campbell is continuing to update people through his page about the progress.