Off-duty cop pulls gun on man buying mentos

The other question is why didn't the cashier immediately say "No, it's okay! He paid!"?

Seems ike an honest mistake. He had good intentions and was just trying to look out for the shopkeeper. He owes the man an apology though and I like to think he did once he stepped outside to him.

Well in the perspective of the cop, the guy took something very fast from the counter and put in his pocket, was a mistaken, even tho I Believe he noticed and lowered the gun and confirmed if the guy had paid already. Not giving pop to the cop anyway, cause for me seems to much.

(May 2018) Video shows off-duty officer pulling gun on man mistakenly suspected of stealing Mentos. Jose Arreola walked into a Southern California gas station to buy Mentos on a Friday night in March and still can’t shake off what happened next. After he paid for the mints and placed them in his left jacket pocket, an off-duty police officer behind him pulled out his handgun, pointed it at his feet and accused him of stealing them. “It made me angry,” Mr. Arreola, 49, said on Monday. “I felt this fear and thought of my wife. My wife might become a widow tonight.” The night started when Mr. Arreola, who was on his way to a club with his wife, pulled into a Chevron station in Buena Park in Orange County, Calif. He got $60 out of an A.T.M., then remembered that his wife had asked for mints. Standing in front of the cashier, Mr. Arreola scanned a row of candy bars, sweets and gum before reaching for a roll of Mentos. “How much are these?” Mr. Arreola asked the man behind the counter. The cashier told him they were $1.19. The transaction on March 16, which was recorded by the gas station’s security camera, was entirely uneventful until the off-duty officer, who works for the Buena Park Police Department, entered the store. He missed the part when Mr. Arreola handed over $20 for the Mentos. “Hey, put that back,” the officer said as he lifted his sweatshirt and pulled a handgun from his waistband. “Put it back. Police officer.” The misunderstanding was resolved in about 35 seconds — the officer put away his gun and apologized — but it was long enough to taint Mr. Arreola’s perception of the police and to land the officer in an internal investigation. “You can’t help but look at all these Facebook videos of cops doing bad things,” said Mr. Arreola, who went public with his story on Friday in an interview with The Orange County Register. “The way he cocked his gun, I thought he was going to shoot me if I did any wrong move.” Mr. Arreola said that after the encounter, he filed a complaint with the Police Department against the officer, who has not been identified. The department offered last week to settle the dispute, Mr. Arreola said, but he declined the deal because the amount would have only covered his legal fees. Across the United States, police departments have come under intense scrutiny in recent years over the use of force and treatment of minorities. The worst actions by police officers are sometimes captured on cellphone video and quickly shared on social media, fueling a distrust toward law enforcement. John DeCarlo, a former police chief and an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven, said that he reminds police officers to treat everyone they encounter with respect, from mundane interactions to very intense ones. Everyday encounters, like seeing an officer in a gas station, shape people’s overall perceptions of the police, he said. “We have an innate fear of police to begin with,” Mr. DeCarlo said. “It’s about treating people how you want to be treated.” Full Article:

My Q, 🤔why wait so long to say he paid for it. 🤦‍♀️

Whatever happened to the officer? This story is from 2018 and I can't find any follow up on it.

Not surprising sadly.

People in the comments acting like pulling a gun on someone is a perfectly normal response if you believe they stole a pack of candy is very disturbing.

The clerk is the definition of a NPC.

“You know who I am, right?” 🤦‍♂️