Did you see this story about the pregnant mom who ate a sandwich while grocery shopping with her husband and toddler? Her husband ate one too. They saved their wrappers, intending to pay for the sandwiches during checkout and just forgot. They were arrested and their toddler was removed from their custody for 18 hours.
Apparently Safeway has finally apologized for this, but SERIOUSLY?
I can't even begin to formulate a rational explanation for why a $5 mistake turned into an arrest and DHS involvement. IT WAS A MISTAKE.
I can't tell you how many times I had a crying baby in Walmart and grabbed a new pacifier straight off the shelf, opened it, and popped it in her mouth before paying. Granted, I did remember to pay, but even if I hadn't, I hardly think that counts as criminal intention.
We live in Oklahoma where we are guaranteed to see on the news every single night a case or five of demented people masquarading as parents who have either already done or are currently in the process of doing lifelong damage to their children and the government barely gets involved.
But a hungry pregnant mom eats a sandwich and forgets to pay and suddenly we "must do what's right on behalf of the child?" That's an 8-letter word that I am not willing to type out here on my blog.
I really think so.
Come on, America. We can do better than this.
Half-Pint House 
It really is sickening – just outrageous. Shame on Safeway!
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You’ve got to be kidding me! I hope Safeway gets sued for the irreversible emotional damage they caused this family!
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Yep – I saw this too, I’m no longer in the land of Safeway but my parents live about 2 minutes from one and I’m shocked that they responded this way. BIG mistake!
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I agree it was a most unfortunate incident & may have been handled differently, but the fact remains that the couple removed merchandise from the Safeway Store without paying for it. Just whose responsibility is that? Loss of merchandise through theft (especially shoplifting) is a major overhead expense that must be defrayed by passing the costs on to other customers, which means you & I end up paying more for what we buy. So come on, let’s get real & require a little accountability & honesty here. They did the deed, & while the cost may have been extravagant, I’ll bet they won’t do it again.
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I can understand holding the parents responsible for the cost, etc. But taking the kid away from the parents is ridiculous! What does that have to do with accidentally stealing a sandwich?
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I’m not trying to say shoplifting should be overlooked. I’m saying in this particular incident they should have considered the whole scenario. The couple saved the wrappers, they intended to pay. They simply forgot when they checked out. When they were caught they apologized and offered to pay, but instead of being allowed to do so, they were arrested and their child was taken from them.
All over $5 worth of food. Again, I’m not saying let’s just overlook shoplifting because it was just $5 – I know that $5 here and $5 there adds up for businesses. I’m saying in THIS case, Safeway should have looked at it for the mistake it was, allowed the couple to make right their wrong, and not had them arrested.
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Exactly!
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Megan, I heard this story on NPR–UNBELIEVABLE! I’m not even a Mom yet, but all I could think about was that if that was me, my 3yo wouldn’t be going ANYWHERE, come hell or high water. I’d be worried that the trauma of having your daughter taken away would jeopardize the pregnancy too!
What’s amazing to me is that even after the story broke, the couple is STILL being charged with a misdemeanor and they have a court date set!
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Megan, I heard this story on NPR–UNBELIEVABLE! I’m not even a Mom yet, but all I could think about was that if that was me, my 3yo wouldn’t be going ANYWHERE, come hell or high water. I’d be worried that the trauma of having your daughter taken away would jeopardize the pregnancy too!
What’s amazing to me is that even after the story broke, the couple is STILL being charged with a misdemeanor and they have a court date set!
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Megan, I heard this story on NPR–UNBELIEVABLE! I’m not even a Mom yet, but all I could think about was that if that was me, my 3yo wouldn’t be going ANYWHERE, come hell or high water. I’d be worried that the trauma of having your daughter taken away would jeopardize the pregnancy too!
What’s amazing to me is that even after the story broke, the couple is STILL being charged with a misdemeanor and they have a court date set!
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Megan, I heard this story on NPR–UNBELIEVABLE! I’m not even a Mom yet, but all I could think about was that if that was me, my 3yo wouldn’t be going ANYWHERE, come hell or high water. I’d be worried that the trauma of having your daughter taken away would jeopardize the pregnancy too!
What’s amazing to me is that even after the story broke, the couple is STILL being charged with a misdemeanor and they have a court date set!
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This makes me think about how sometimes our personal sin can spiral out of control and have consequences we never intended. I did not read the article, but I can just see a grouchy manager whose feeling undervalued deciding this was IT and pulling out all the stops on this couple and then feeling too ashamed or no longer in control of the situation, not being able to stop the quickly steamrolling train of crazy consequences. Obviously, someone should have stopped the ridiculous process and there were probably multiple points where that could have occurred, but it more than likely started with a little someone deciding to sin a little and then it spiraled on from there. I pray I’m never the point of origin for something like that. YUCK.
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i can say we pay high prices for everything and partly cause of theft. sorry to hear this. i dont think you should have been arrested its not worth the paper work. retailers take it seriously about theft.
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Intentional or not, they still took goods with out paying for it, just saying
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