Safeway Apologizes After 4-Year-Old Girl is Forever Banned for Shoplifting
The national grocery store chain Safeway issued a formal apology to a little girl after she was berated then banned from all stores, forever.
Savannah Harp, a 4-year-old, was cited for shoplifting after a security guard saw the little one open a bag of dried fruit and then innocently put the bag back on the shelf. The child’s father was with her but apparently did not see her open the bag.
A security guard did happen to see little Savannah and as the father and daughter began to exit the store, he swiftly and bravely intervened.
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The girl’s mother, Alissa Jones, recounts the events to ABC’s Seattle affiliate KOMO 4 News: "She grabbed a bag of apricots, dried apricots, opened them, ate a couple, put it back and the security guard watched her do it," said the girl's mother.
The security guard then continued to tell them, “Your daughter stole and she's banned from the store, and we're pressing charges. And she needs to sign this form saying she understands she can't come into any Safeways,” according to Jones. Savannah can barely read and write so she was forced to scribble her name on the paper.
"It's pretty troubling," said Jones. "It's not like she even knows what she was doing."
Savannah's parents are not the only ones concerned about the way the situation was handled. Company officials said they are outraged by the incident and they have fired the security guard.
Company spokesperson Cherie Myers said in a statement: "Our policies on shoplifting are intended to protect our customers, but built on common sense. And everyone understands what common sense is. We are as appalled as the parent is. Our division president was absolutely appalled, called the mom and apologized. In this case, neither our policy nor commonsense seems to have been followed.”
