The District Attorney’s office in California’s San Joaquin County says it won’t pursue charges against two clerks who fought a suspect as he tried to make off with cigarettes.
KCRA reports the DA is now saying only the suspect in the theft at a 7-11 in Stockton will be investigated.
“The Stockton 7-11 Store Clerks are not and have never been suspects of the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office,” San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement to CBS Sacramento. “Any investigation going forward is to hold accountable the individual who threatened and attempted to rob them.”
Video shows one clerk holding the suspect down on the ground while another repeatedly hit him with a long stick in the buttocks and the legs.
Customers in the store could be heard imploring the clerks to stop.
A spokesperson for the DA’s office says the suspect motioned as if he had a gun. He says the clerks were obviously “fearful for their lives.”
Authorities arrested Tyrone Frazier, 41, after they determined he was a suspect in multiple robberies.
He appeared in court Wednesday where the court ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation.
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When a thief uses force and fear against a victim in the process of committing a crime, it becomes a robbery. Watch the suspects right had repeatedly move to his right rear pocket and you can plainly see that he is simulating and threatening the use of a weapon.
The use of a stick to defend the victims is clearly a reasonable response to the fear that the robber was employing. Any reasonable person can see that the two victims were defending each other by employing pain compliance.