Ohio Walmart shoplifter attacks, pepper sprays security officer
FAIRFAX, Ohio —April 28 2019
A television heist turned into a shopping center struggle in Fairfax, as a security officer got pepper sprayed in the face.
The woman, police said, who started it all is now in jail.
Fairfax police said the security guard caught the woman trying to do the same thing a few weeks ago and recognized her.
It was a fight you might see on TV, but this one was in front of the Fairfax Walmart over TVs.
“Somebody was trying to steal something. She was fighting security and everything. We was trying to get somebody, somebody to help him,” a woman told 911 dispatchers.
Customers called 911 on Friday night as a woman darted out of the store with TVs without paying for them, leading to a quarrel with a security guard
“His face. He got the crap beaten out of his face. I don’t see any blood,” a man told 911 dispatchers.
The man also told dispatchers the store security guard got maced by the woman.
Fairfax police said Taylor Burleigh put two TVs in a cart, shopped around the store for things such as mace and cosmetics, and then headed straight for the door.
But she didn’t get past a security guard who police said recognized her from a prior attempt.
Video WLWT obtained showed the guard trying to stop her as she crashed a cart into a concrete post outside.
The two can be seen fighting over the TVs as customers come over to help before Burleigh ran off to a van.
Police stopped the van quickly after.
“I’m going to put you back in my car and we’re going to take you back and see if they can identify you first, OK,” an officer said to Burleigh in video from a cruiser.
Burleigh can be heard telling the officer another woman was in the van and she was dropped off at a bus stop. She also told the officer they switched clothes.
She is arrested and put into the back of the cruiser, while police drive her back to be identified by the guard.
While waiting in the cruiser at the Walmart, Burleigh can be seen on video apparently lighting a cigarette and taking several puffs.
The security guard was heard on video identifying her.
Burleigh left the store a second time, but in a cruiser, handcuffed and empty-handed.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law,” the officer said.
Police said the woman driving the minivan did not seem to know anything about what was going on.
WLWT was told the security guard washed his eyes after the incident and did not appear to have any serious injuries.
Walmart said it appreciates the quick response by police.
It also said the company is deploying a number of anti-theft measures to become a harder target by investing in employees, training and technology.
WLWT
