A woman who was attacked by a would-be robber in a California Walmart claims that store managers asked her not to call police to report the incident.
Linda Andrade was at a Walmart in San Bernardino when a man came up behind her and attempted to rob her.
“As I was walking through the aisles I felt my gold chain become tight around my neck,” Andrade told the San Bernardino Sun. “Then all of a sudden it was pulled a second time breaking and I saw him. I kept yelling ‘security help, help,’ and nobody showed up. All of a sudden a man came to me and said he (the attacker) was gone.”
The 68-year-old said managers told her not to report the attack because it would take too long. “They kept telling me the police wouldn’t show for hours,” she said. “I didn’t want to wait that long so I went home and called police.”
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When Andrade called from home, it only took San Bernardino police 15 minutes to arrive. “The officer was very kind and he told me that I wouldn’t have waited as long as the store managers told me I would,” she said. “With the way I was treated I never want to ever go back to that store again.”
Police have not made any arrests and are continuing to investigate.
“While we can’t always prevent crime from happening, we can definitely do a better job of how we respond in a situation like this,” Walmart spokeswoman Dianna Gee said in a statement. “We have reached out to Ms. Andrade to apologize for how this was handled. We have also reiterated our policies and procedures to those involved.”
[San Bernardino Sun] [CBS Local]
