Family not yet notified; police say he tried to steal $700 in
food and alcohol
MORGAN HILL
The identity of a 47-year-old alleged shoplifter who died following an altercation with security personnel at Safeway has not been released by Morgan Hill police or by the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office.
A representative from the coroner’s office said the Greenfield resident’s next of kin had not been notified by press time. Police are reporting he stole $700 worth of food and alcohol from the store at 840 E. Dunne Ave.
A Monument Security representative, whom the Safeway security guards involved worked for, was not available, and a call to the Safeway regional office for comment was not returned by press time. It’s not known whether the security guards are on leave pending an investigation. They were not injured during the incident, according to police.
The man ran from the store shortly after 4 p.m. when he was seen trying to steal the merchandise, according to Morgan Hill police Cmdr. David Swing, who said the cart full of merchandise was found abandoned nearby.
Running north toward the Shell gas station in the parking lot, the man was pursued by the guards. He turned west, running around the Burger King where the guards caught up with him and handcuffed him on the sidewalk near the intersection of Oak Grove Drive and East Dunne Avenue.
Nancy Cedano, a general manager at the Burger King restaurant several hundred feet from Safeway, said she saw the man run by the restaurant’s drive-through window then was tackled by the guards.
“They put his hands on his back and he was yelling and trying to move,” Cedano said.
After they tackled and subdued him, the man cursed at the guards, who were on top of him for about 10 minutes, Cedano said.
Morgan Hill police dispatchers received several calls about the incident, and officers were sent to the scene. The first officer to arrive was there in less than two minutes, according to police. When the officer couldn’t find a pulse, he uncuffed the suspect and began CPR. Paramedics transported the man to Saint Louise Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Anyone who saw the incident can contact Morgan Hill Detective Kevin Beilmann at (408) 776-7323.
