Crazy 9 Minute Video Of Security Guard Wrestling With Shoplifter Has Canadian''s Collective Panties In A Bunch

The owner of a FreshCo grocery store in Saskatoon says he is “horrified” by a video that shows a store security guard attempting to handcuff an Indigenous woman by wrestling with her on the ground and then throwing himself on top of her after she gets into her vehicle.

The nine-minute video was shared on social media Wednesday. In it, the woman repeatedly pleads for the security guard to stop and asks why she’s being arrested. The video appears to have been shot Wednesday in the parking lot of the Freshco location at 33rd Street and Avenue C NorIn a statement posted Thursday morning to the “FreshCo 33rd & Avenue C Saskatoon” Facebook page, store owner Chris Fowler says he’s “beyond shocked and horrified.”

“As Metis owner and a father of two daughters, this should (have) not happened ever. I have ended my contract with the individual who was filmed as we use a third party LP (loss prevention) company,” the statement reads.th.

A second statement posted by the company to Facebook said, “the behaviour shown on April 14th outside our store is not tolerated or a representation of our values. We continue to cooperate with officials as this incident is currently under investigation. We are also working closely with our teammates and supporting them as they work through this investigation.”

At various points during the video, a bystander is heard asking the security guard who he is, if he has the right to detain her and if he has any identification.

“Uh, I haven’t got any,” he answers.

In the video, the woman screams that the security guard is assaulting her and demands he get his hands out of her shirt and, on multiple occasions, to let her go. In the video, she says she threw out the receipt for the items she bought.

“Leave me alone,” the woman shouts at the security guard before escaping his grasp and punching him in the face. She escapes to her vehicle and the security guard throws himself on top of her. Both the woman and security guard ask bystanders for help.

A shorter video, posted in the comments section of the original Facebook post, shows police arriving while bystanders and the security guard yell at each other from the woman’s vehicle. The security guard leaves the woman’s vehicle and the woman, who is handcuffed in the driver’s seat, tells an officer the guard shoved her face-first into the ground three times.

An officer on scene asks the crowds to disperse and the video ends.

According to Saskatoon police, officers responded to the grocery store around 4 p.m. after receiving a report of shoplifting.

When officers arrived, they saw that a 30-year-old woman was “being detained by a loss prevention officer. A previous altercation between the two individuals had taken place, resulting in minor injuries to the LPO.”

The woman refused medical treatment and was taken into police custody, police say. She was charged with theft under $5,000 and assault.

Police say the incident remains under investigation.