Jacquetta Simmons Arrested After Punching Walmart Employee (VIDEO)

People: we know holiday sales are great, but they're not worth spending the night in jail.

A New York woman was charged with two counts of second-degree assault after punching a 70-year old Walmart employee in the face.

Jacquetta Simmons, 26, assaulted Grace Suozzi on Saturday night after the Walmart greeter asked to see her receipts, according to authorities.

Simmons quickly fled the scene, but employees and customers chased her until she was surrounded. Not long after, police arrived and arrested her.

Police reported that when they checked Simmons' bags, she had receipts for all of the merchandise.

WATCH:

Comments

[logic316]

10:30 PM on 02/01/2012

I agree with *some* of the previous comments stating that exit receipt checks are totally voluntary and that the employee might have initially been in the wrong. I used to be a security manager for the headquarters of a major retail corporation, and the law does NOT allow a merchant to detain a subject unless he was positively witnessed trying to remove an item from the property without paying for it (or in some US states, is caught concealing merchandise). So if you don't want to bother showing a receipt for items that you finished paying for, it may be rude but you are perfectly within your rights to ignore the employees and walk right out the door with your belongings. Any attempt on their part to physically prevent or block you from exiting, or to threaten you with any force (without actual evidence of shoplifting) constitutes False Imprisonment. But be that as it may, I have a hard time seeing this as a case of self-defense. I see no indication that Ms. Simmons or her companion were being threatened with injurious force by the elderly employee, and the law doesn't consider it reasonable for you to use injurious force against a much weaker individual merely to protect personal property. Whether Ms. Simmons punched a much older person in the face or deliberately shoved her causing her to fall and suffer fractures, I say she overreacted and must answer for that in court.

[CILONDON]

09:10 PM on 01/13/2012

The law says:

1) A shopper doesn't have to show receipt. It is entirely voluntary. THAT IS THE LAW.
2) The greeter broke the law first. She had no legal right to snatch the bag from the shopper. It was the shoppers property. To make matters worse, when the shopper took back her bag, the greeter snatched it again, breaking the bag, causing contents to fall out.
3) The shopper, as with any citizen, has the right to use force to defend her property when somebody takes it away from her unlawfully which is what the greeter did. It doesn't matter that greeter mistakenly thought she had the legal right to take the property - she did not and she damaged the shoppers property while trying to take it unlawfully.
4) The shopper had the legal right to use force to stop the greeter from unlawfully taking her property. The fact that the "unlawful taker" mistakenly thought that she had the right to take that property is irrelevant. The fact that "unlawful taker" is over 70 years old is also irrelevant. There is no law that says if an unlawful taker of property is over 70, then you must let them take it and do nothing to stop them. No such law.
5) The only question for the courts is - was the force the shopper used appropriate or excessive? That is what the judge will have to decide.

Everything else is just opinion and emotion and has no basis

[goodkarmagirl]

09:39 PM on 01/02/2012

I took a seasonal job at Walmart as a cashier and would like to quantify & clarify a few things.

A) When people come thru the line with items in bags, I have asked and more often than not, have been offered willingly by the customer to see the receipt. If one has nothing to hide, this is not and has not been an issue for me. And I guess I will call myself colour blind as it matters not what race/colour/creed a customer may be.

B) There are measures in place for suspicious behavior, though I can not discuss them...trust me. they exist.

C) Part of the job of a greeter is to check items going out the door against receipts. Many items are simply too large to bag or are heavy and go out the door in a cart. Merchandise that has been misappropriated will set off the alarms.

Having said all that, we can speculate all we want on the why and how these events were set in motion. In the end, an assault occured and that's what matters.

Ms, Simmons could have contacted a customer service manager, a duty manager or a store manager if she felt her companion was being treated unfairly.
Since she chose a different course of action and threw a punch, she is in the wrong and needs to pay for the wrong doing. Just like anyone else would who initiated violence.

[Pastor Shannon]

05:23 PM on 01/02/2012

All of you who are saying things about Ms. Simmons you talk as if you know her all your lives. If you don't know her then you need to keep your comments to yourself. Yes what she did was dead wrong but the bible said he who is without sin cast the first stone. No one should put their hands on another person. Walmart if you are so cheap that you can not pay for sercurity then shame on you don't put old people in harms way to do your durty work. Where was the manager. I have been in managerment for years as a fast food manager and we would never put a crew member in harms way. Come on spend a little MONEY for security.

[edwardmusical]

07:57 PM on 12/29/2011

I am going to repeat myself; Ms. Simmons did not look or ask for trouble at Wal-mart.
Ms. Simmons spent her hard earn money at Wal-Mart and this 70 year old woman Ms. Grace Suozzi ( a Wal-mart cashier). How many white people did Ms. Grace Suozzi stopped and demanded to see their receipts? YES, THIS WAS RACIAL PROFILING!
Your white people wake the F UP!
I was at a Wal-Mart in the lilly suburbs today with my hidden video camera. Guess what there was NO one to check my receipts; I gurarantee when I go to the Wal-mart in the city there will be a greeter at each door to check my receipt. I will be making sure that they stopped and question your whites too.
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[1Curious1]

11:11 AM on 12/30/2011

I don't shop at walmart for this and other reasons. And if you are treated that bad you need to let your wallet do your talking & comment to their admin office to tell them you are dissatisfied w/ their service.

[1Curious1]

11:13 AM on 12/30/2011

Oh yah, that is still NO reason to hit someone!

[FloB]

02:51 PM on 12/31/2011

I am definitely white and am ask for a reciept everytime I have a large item in my cart leaving walmart, and most other times too. At our store they stop nearly everyone, nearly every time. By the way, a lot of these greeters are dark skinned and of African ancestry. Should I hit them for profiling me? NO! NO! NO! That is the difference between civilized people with good home training and manners and folks going around with a chip on their shoulder, always looking for something to be mad about or cry discrimination about. People generally get back according to the vibes they send out. If a person wants to be constantly hostile, they are more likely to be treated with hostility.

[Lavendar1]

06:26 PM on 01/01/2012

I've said it before here, and I'll say it again. Simmons should not have hit the greeter, period. Race has no place in it. If the greeter had been African-American and the attacker a white woman, the crime would have been equally vile and inappropriate. It IS a matter of making good choices, good behavior and good manners. However, YOU have turned this into something much bigger, as many here have done. You have stepped beyond Simmons as an individual and her crime and made this an indictment of ALL African-Americans with your comments about people who "go around with a chip on their shoulder...looking for something to cry discrimination about". Is this how you perceive all African-Americans? That we all walk around with big chips on our shoulders, ever ready to play the race card? That means that any African-American person doesn't stand a chance when they meet you, hunh? You will have pre-judged them before they can even open their mouths. That kind of racially loaded, judgmental bias is the reason why America cannot seem to get past its race issues. This is 2012 people. Come on.

[FloB]

09:11 PM on 01/01/2012

You misunderstood my reply, I happen to agree with you that there was no reason to attack the greeter, their job is to check receipts of everyone leaving Walmart. I did not turn it into a race issue,you did. You quoted "people who "go around with a chip on their shoulder..­.looking for something to cry discrimina­tion about" and assumed I was referring to "African Americans". That statement can and does refer to anyone of any race "going around with a chip on their shoulder" looking for reasons to be hostile and treat others badly, blaming it on some real or perceived offense they felt, having nothing to do with the innocent person they take their hostility out on.

[Gerardo Ferrer]

03:48 PM on 12/29/2011

what a shame punching a 70 yrs lady, over a recieped. put her in jail for couple month, will teach her a lesson.

[Randy Box]

10:15 PM on 12/29/2011

I sure hope so!

[urspider68]

12:10 PM on 12/29/2011

Stupid is as stupid does. When you place your hands on someone you are the perp. Charge should be assault and battery. Punched or pushed is no matter. Aggressive movement towards and placing hands onto is a given. Six months to a year. Hopefully Ms. Simmons has no rap sheet.

Most of these checks would seem to be ralated not to theft by a customer obviously exiting a check out line but instead making certain that there was no colusion between the cashier and the customer. Freebies by employees to 'friends and relativies' is systemic and accounts for more than half of all store thefts. Ms. Simmons should have been part of the solution rather than a major part of the problem. Seems to indicate that Ms. Simmons has been part of the problem before.

[artcave]

03:37 AM on 12/29/2011

at least three versions of the story exist. the "official version" is the walmart friendliest: a 70 year old walmart greeter asked to see receipts and was punched for doing her job. the story ends by saying the shopper had receipts for all her goods and always includes a photo of the black shopper.
...an eyewitness reports states: A cashier (not a greeter) asked to see receipts and when the shopper declined and attempted to leave, the cashier stepped out presumably to interfere with the shopper's exit and was pushed/or punched in the face ("pushed," not necessarily punched). This eyewitness was close enough to help the cashier after her injuries.
....a third version has these added elements: A 70 year old cashier asked to see receipts and when the shopper vehemently declined the cashier stepped out from her register and TOOK the items. The shopper attempted to regain her items, the bag ripped and the cashier was punched very hard in the face.
What's interesting is that as more elements are added the simple request of a "greeter" becomes an unfounded suspicion of a cashier doing double duty as security. Walmart's simple receipt request (which a customer may decline) is revealed to be a demand backed up by taking items back (stealing is the street term) when the "request" is denied.

[jsfnps]

10:46 AM on 12/29/2011

Interesting! I shop at various Wall-marts and I have always seen the Greeter both welcome you to Wall-mart and also check any receipts for folks coming in to return goods and occasionally if the alarm goes off. In all cases it is the same person not a cashier!

[artcave]

12:59 PM on 12/29/2011

Yes, I shop at Walmarts also. The greeter greets, security checks the receipts. Walmarts vary.
In this case though, it seems closer to fact that the "greeter" was indeed a cashier who stopped a customer who was leaving with items just purchased, not returning them.

[RollingForest]

10:49 AM on 12/29/2011

Are you seriously suggesting Walmart stole items because it requires that costumers prove that they paid for items before leaving the store? Do you think that we should just let costumers walk out with items and shame the employees for checking? Or are you really just trying to put Walmart out of business?

[artcave]

12:53 PM on 12/29/2011

I buy items and try to leave the store with those items and the store grabs them back...? Hmmm. Yes that sounds like stealing to me.
After buying items and having them bagged by the store, should I be allowed to leave with them?
Hmmm. Yes, that sounds good, doesn't sound like it would "shame the employees."
Do I think my few comments here against a torrent of others is going to put walmart out of business. No, but it would be nice if they treated their customers... well, nice, instead of like criminals for shopping there.

[labuyu]

12:36 AM on 12/29/2011

Anger management 101.

[DCreamerII]

11:36 PM on 12/28/2011

I have noticed that as a white man with a large build and agressive manner I am never asked but women especially women of color are asked all the time. Personally I find it insulting that anybody should be stopped as they leave to show receipts. Unless you see somebody steal something you have no reason to search them.

[labuyu]

12:35 AM on 12/29/2011

You must not shop at Costco, all receipts for everyone are checked there.

[uncomplicatedlife]

02:09 AM on 12/29/2011

Costco is a membership. You have to pay for the privilege of being searched....

I sure it's something you agree to when you sign up.

[DCreamerII]

10:21 AM on 12/29/2011

I do at Sam's club and I walk right past them refusing to be checked and they have never made an issue of it.

[RollingForest]

10:52 AM on 12/29/2011

The store has the right to search anyone they want who is leaving the store with items. If you bought the items, you should have the receipts and have nothing to worry about. If you are doing business with them, they have the right to check to make sure you are doing it fairly.

[XCitizenX]

12:37 AM on 12/30/2011

Well according to the story, the woman's receipt matched her purchases. Who knows why she hit her...

[jmoser1973]

11:25 PM on 12/28/2011

You don't hear about this kind of stuff at Target.

[robertaruth]

09:10 PM on 12/28/2011

Someone down the line posted a link to a story written by the local paper where the incident occurred. It puts a whole new light on the incident, and i'm surprised that not enough people read it, as there are still comments written without knowledge of the additional facts.

Here, briefly is my comment after reading the local story.

The old woman was not a greeter. She was a cashier. I wonder why she felt she had to ask for a receipt from Simmons' companion who was not the one checking out. Seems to me she stepped out of bounds of her responsibi­lity, which was to check out the items Simmons was purchasing­. So the other person with Simmons, who was not checking out, was holding a Walmart bag. So what? I've been to stores with merchandis­e in a bag previously purchased, possibly for an exchange or return. The cashier had no business asking this guy for a receipt. She was not a greeter, or a security guard.

Having said that, Simmons obviously has anger issues and of course it was wrong of her to punch the old lady, but consider all the other factors that might gone into her lashing out. No time for, nor do I want to elaborate on the sociologic­al issues and causes of behavior here. I leave that to your imagination­n and knowledge of history, folks. Just looking at both sides.

[Megadodge]

10:24 PM on 12/28/2011

I agree with your post 100%. I read the link to the story and to me it seems the lady was upset because the cashier asked to see her companion's receipt as he was carrying a walmart bag. The Wal-mart employee was a cashier and not a greeter. I have appreciation for your last paragraph.

[cafebeege]

12:37 AM on 12/29/2011

How is the term "greeter" more entitled to guard stealing from the store than any other employee ? If she, the cashier, thought she saw something odd, she had every right to ask to see receipts. I wouldn't mind if I was asked to see my receipts. I'd just show them and silently let them feel a little stupid when they saw them....:o) That doesn't give anyone the right to physically ASSAULT someone folks.....period. If she was the one who checked them out, maybe she saw something on the checkout belt that she thought she overlooked ringing up.

Now you can all jump on me, but HTG I have only been in a Walmart one time in my life. (Yes, I know I'm the only person on the planet who can say that.) The nearest one is not that close and it was too big and too much walking to find items. Frankly I didn't see that great a price on things either. And when my son, his wife and I were leaving, it was dusk and one of us said that they didn't think it was a great location or place for a woman, older especially, to shop and come out in the parking lot alone after dark especially. That's the truth and too bad if you don't like what I'm saying. Too easy to mug someone and grab her purse in the lot of the one where we were.

[minda90]

11:05 PM on 12/28/2011

That doesn't seem out of bounds to me at all. People use old shopping bags to shoplift sometimes; when I worked at Forever 21 in college my manager actually warned me about that. And so what? That does not justify punching someone in the face at all.

[DarkandLuvly]

06:21 AM on 01/03/2012

yes yes. u steal stuff and hang out at the register right? makes sense if you dont think about it.

[robertaruth]

09:13 PM on 12/28/2011

I'm gnashing my teeth and holding back from replying to this. Maybe it will be deleted.

[robertaruth]

09:15 PM on 12/28/2011

After remarks like this one, does anyone wonder why some people have anger issues?

[MillardKinnison]

07:41 PM on 12/28/2011

The lady has all the receipts yet punches someone out for asking to see those receipts then runs. That makes no sense to me at all. Guess I'm just getting too old for stuff like this. LOL

[Coherent1]

07:36 PM on 12/28/2011

There's more to this story. It still does not excuse Ms. Simmons behavior. The lady was not a greeter, but a cashier. She asked to see the receipt of an individual who was waiting on Ms. Simmons. Ms. Simmons didn't understand why she asked for his receipt and was offended. Ms. Simmons began yelling obscenities and the cashier snatched the bag from the guy. Ms. Simmons then snatched the bag from the cashier and it tore. Ms. Simmons then punched the cashier in the face. The items were all paid for. Ms. Simmons was upset that the cashier questioned their integrity, I guess because the guy looked suspicious. Ms. Simmons allowed her frustations and her emotions to get the best of her, and the end result is a hurt individual and a court case.

It's just good to know the full scope of story.

[Allen Bouchard]

12:37 AM on 01/01/2012

"The lady was not a greeter, but a cashier."

Irrelevant, cashiers can and should ask to see receipts.

"She asked to see the receipt of an individual who was waiting on Ms. Simmons."

Your point?

"Ms. Simmons didn't understand why she asked for his receipt and was offended. Ms. Simmons began yelling obscenitie­s and the cashier snatched the bag from the guy. Ms. Simmons then snatched the bag from the cashier and it tore. Ms. Simmons then punched the cashier in the face."

So we agree that Ms Simmons is an idiot with anger issues.

I don't see how this story of yours is suppose to shed new light on the situation.

[Coherent1]

03:44 PM on 01/01/2012

If u cant see the differences in the info provided, don't bother, Mr. 3 Days Late Bouchard.