Walmart Employee calls Suspected Shoplifter an Idiot, Reportedly Knocks his Cell Phone to the Ground

A Walmart employee allegedly stopped a customer for suspected shoplifting, called him an idiot and reportedly knocked his cell phone to the ground.

Joshua Baatz, 25, of Climax, Minn., wrote on Facebook that he was accused of stealing a loaf of bread from the Walmart Supercenter in Crookston on Sunday and that an employee demanded to look through his belongings and study his receipt. 

With Baatz’s camera on, a female worker named by Valley News Live as 53-year-old Patricia Mendarno of Grand Forks, N.D., stood next to a male co-worker and said, “We’re not accusing you.” Baatz interjected, “Yes, you are.”

“So if you want to be an idiot, you can go ahead and be an idiot,” she said to Baatz. 

“OK, anything else?” asked Baatz. Then, Mendarno appears to knock his cell phone to the ground and says, “Oh, it fell. I’m sorry.” 

“We don’t discuss personnel matters, but we’re looking into this incident,” Tara Astin, a spokesperson from Walmart, tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

Chief Paul Biermaier of the Crookston Police Department did not return Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment. Valley News Live reports that the event is under investigation.

Baatz did not immediately return Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. He told Valley News Live that he is banned from the Walmart location for one year.