Custy Goes After Walmart Beer N.A.T.s

From Humor Me:

I saw this on my local news and couldn't believe that a customer would be crazy enough to try and stop a group of NAT's! PLEASE! This is what the police or trained LP is for! She could have been seriously injured o killed. Just think if those guys had a weapon.

Thank you, Monique Lawless, for feeling our pain, but we don't want your family to mourn you because of a few cases of beer. You are worth so much more than that.

-- Humor Me

Here's the story from Stanton Houston Chronicle:

It wasn't her beer.

Monique Lawless had nothing personal at stake when she saw three men leaving a Walmart store in Alvin with three cases of beer they didn't pay for. She was a customer, not an employee, of the store.

Yet Lawless, who stands just under 5 feet tall and weighs 125 pounds, took off in pursuit of the three much larger men.

"I'm just sick of the lawlessness," the 42-year-old Alvin woman said. "They knew their chances of getting caught were slim to none. Those kids would have gotten away with it, celebrated their theft and probably continue to do it."

The three alleged thieves were arrested — at another Walmart store in Pearland near Texas 288 — after an hourlong chase. But Lawless' efforts to stop them came at a price: a scratched face, broken lip and scrapes and bruises to her legs.

Lawless, an engineering safety specialist at Boeing, was in line at the Alvin Walmart Supercenter just before noon Sunday when she saw the men enter the store and quickly leave with the beer.

She informed a sales clerk, who waved at a Walmart greeter to stop them. He briefly detained two of the suspects, but they broke loose to join the third man in their getaway car.

"I holler at the clerk to watch my purse," Lawless said, "and I take off after them."

Jumped on hood

She spotted the men getting into an older-model sports car "so I just started running towards the car, jumped on the hood and was kicking at the front windshield, trying to kick the windshield in," she said.

"I am screaming, 'You punks, you are not going to get away with this,' and people are looking at me, thinking what's wrong with her?" Lawless said. "People were just standing around, probably thinking I am crazy."

Her crime-fighting effort didn't stop there.

"Then I jumped on the roof and tried to kick in the sunroof, and in the meantime they're just laughing," said Lawless, a mother of two. "I was really upset then. I was mad."

Action not recommended

When the driver started the car, Lawless slid down the top of the vehicle and grabbed the driver's door handle. The vehicle lunged forward and she let go, but not before being dragged along the pavement.

She declined medical treatment at the scene, but took the day off from work Monday to recuperate.

Alvin police Capt. Chad Fontenot said he appreciated Lawless' courage, but she was lucky.

"In this case, it was not a good thing to do," Fontenot said. "While we appreciate the sentiment, she put herself in grave danger with this theft. She did get injured but it could have been worse.

"Because you don't know if the person is armed or their mental status, the best people can do is to be a great witness," he said. "Get a license plate and a good description. In this case you had three young men in a vehicle that she took on by herself. Those are not good odds in any situation."

The three men, who are brothers, were in the Brazoria County Jail on Monday facing charges of felony evading arrest and aggravated robbery. Sylvester Andre Thompson, 21; Sylvester Durlentren Thompson, 21; and Sylvester Primitivo Thompson, 19, live at 4925 Harbin in Santa Fe.

Attempts to contact Walmart Monday were unsuccessful.

Would Lawless do the same thing again?

"Probably," she said, "but I would probably throw a shopping cart in front of the car instead of jumping on the hood and roof."

robert.stanton@chron.com

via www.chron.com

 

 

Comments

[Mcarp555]

Will Wal-mart fire her as a customer now?

[MouseMastered]

Curse you, humor, you beat me to it! :D

While she took a huge risk, I call it win on her part. If more people had the gall to stand up to thieves and criminals, maybe there'd be less crime.

[Humor_Me]

Mouse, I feel the same way you do. But I also know how crazy this world is, and the thought that this woman could have left behind 2 orphans just scares me and makes me sad. Fortunately, these were just three dumb kids, but what if it had been three guys on parole? What if one of them had a weapon? What if she had ended up under the car? Are the few cases of beer really worth it? A license number and descriptions would have been sufficient. She would have gone home safe to her family and the police would have been just as happy.

[Master Anakin]

"Attempts to contact Walmart Monday were unsuccessful." Probably because they fired the greeter who tried to stop those three NATs.

[MouseMastered]

I feel the same way. While I'm glad it turned out okay, there were safer ways to stand up against crooks.

[SammyKat]

I appreciate the sentiment, but she's a freaking lunatic! Jumping on the car and trying to kick in the windshield? She's lucky she just got some scrapes and bruises.

[TechChewToy]

...Wait, ALL THREE were named Sylvester??

...They had no chance of succeeding at life.

(Joking totally, but seriously- who names all their male children Sylvester??)

The attempt to take the guys on was ill-advised but I can see where she came from. She's a decent person like a lot of us are- she just got pushed way too damn far and wasn't thinking about her children or her life, she was thinking that goddamnit she wasn't going to watch some dumbasses getting away with being horrible people.

I admire her but I am very, very glad she didn't get seriously hurt.

[Care Plan Pimp]

What a total fucking moron. If she had damaged that car she probably would have gotten charged herself. And I would have laughed.

[Humor_Me]

@TechChewToy: Who names all three of their children Sylvester? Try George Foreman.

(via Wiki): Foreman has 10 children, and each of his five sons is named George: George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI. His four younger sons are distinguished from one another by the nicknames "Monk", "Big Wheel", "Red", and "Little Joey". He has two daughters, Freeda George and Georgetta.

I named all my kids starting with "A", but I think George Foreman has some more serious issues. LOL!

[Nocturnesthesia]

Ugh. I'm not saying stealing is a good thing to do, but this dumb broad's gonna get hurt if she keeps sticking her face in other peoples' business.

[Logan]

"Ugh. I'm not saying stealing is a good thing to do" One might even go out on a limb and say stealing is a BAD thing to do. Call me crazy.

[WMDKitty]

"Sylvester Andre Thompson, 21; Sylvester Durlentren Thompson, 21; and Sylvester Primitivo Thompson."

*banghead*

And it looks like two of 'em are twins, too.

Fuck.

[Zyffyr]

George Foreman HAD to name all his kids George. To many blows to the head, so it is the only name he could be sure to remember.

[Humor_Me]

@Zyffer: No more drinking iced tea and reading RHU at 5:00 in the morning! This is the second time I've had to clean my screen early in the morning. I need to turn my days and nights back around so I'm not so punchy for silly comments like that.

[Bitch Boy]

She can still be sued for aggravated assault (jumping on the car, trying to kick in the windows) as well as "emotional trauma".

The one kid, if he has an excellent attorney, could even claim that her attacking the car is what prompted them to try and out run the police, ending in the one guy getting pinned causing even more trauma...

With the history of our court systems, I can see the three guys actually winning against her too...

[Humor_Me]

Oh GOD, Bitch Boy! Don't give him ideas! (8 - O

[Lucy]

This is real life, not a movie. You trying to be a hero? The hand of justice or whatever? DONT! Geez that woman is an idiot and might even have some issues... Not awesome.

[c]

No worth risking your life over stolen beer.
Not a hero in my book.

[Bill]

She is an absolute stupid idiot, a moron and batshit crazy! While stealing is sure bad, three cases of beer do not justify getting your windshield kicked in or being pinned to a fence by a freaking car. The woman has some serious issues and something is really wrong with the police. I know that american policemen behave like postmodern violent cowboys, but this is a new level.

[Pandora Beads]

I follow you VIA GFC and I love your blog!