Dollarama investigates after video shows security guards dragging suspected shoplifter to back of Winnipeg store

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.

A woman has been charged and Dollarama is investigating after security guards dragged a suspected shoplifter to the back of one of its Winnipeg stores earlier this week.

Dora Wood says she was at the Dollarama on Portage Avenue near Donald Street downtown around noon Wednesday when she saw two security guards pinning a woman to the ground who Wood said appeared to be native, on the ground inside the store.

“They were manhandling her,” she told CBC on Saturday. “She was lying on the ground helpless, and this guy had his knee on her (in the back), and she's a small woman.”

Wood says she began recording the incident on her cell phone shortly afterward.

At the start of the video, two men are seen pulling a woman, whose hands appear tied behind her back, down an aisle toward a room marked “employees only.” The woman screams that she doesn't want to be taken there and tries to run away, but the men hold her by the arms and pull her into the room.

“We’ve already arrested you,” a guard tells the woman, as he appears to drag her into the room.

Wood and another man shout at security guards not to take the woman to a further area of ​​the room, as they record the incident on their cellphones. The man holds the door open while another person, who appears to be an employee, assures him that the woman will not be harmed.

“We have a permit and we have the right to arrest people for shoplifting,” a security guard explains to the man.

Wood begins filming through the crack of the open door, and the woman accused of shoplifting is seen continuing to scream and cry, saying she wants to be let go. The men who dragged her into the room hold her arms and hold her while she struggles.

“I want to go out,” she shouts. “Leave me alone, let me go.”

An employee urges him to calm down before Wood's video ends.

CBC was unable to verify the identity of the woman in the video, but Wood says a St. Theresa Point councilor later told him the woman was from that northern Manitoba First Nation .

Wood says she's angry at how the situation at the store was handled.

“There are other ways to handle this more appropriately, especially with an Indigenous woman.”

A Dollarama spokesperson told CBC that its loss prevention officers are authorized to observe people hiding merchandise and/or leaving the store without paying, but the franchise does not allow any use of force to apprehend thieves. alleged to be on display.

“Upon learning of this incident, Dollarama immediately notified the third-party security company while we investigated why protocol was not followed and ensured that Dollarama's standards were met throughout the incident. “future,” the spokesperson said in a statement released Friday.

Woman charged

Const. Winnipeg Police Service Jason Michalyshen said officers were called to Dollarama on Wednesday about a shoplifter in the custody of loss prevention officers.

A 32-year-old woman was arrested, taken into custody and charged with theft under $5,000, possession of methamphetamine and two outstanding arrest warrants, he said. She was released on recognizance.

Wood says she doesn't think the accusations justify the way the woman in the video was treated.

“They still shouldn't have treated her that way. They should have handled the situation properly,” she said.

“They should have just waited for the cops to arrive instead of taking her to the back.… Brutalizing her like that is not justified.”

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak — an advocacy organization that represents dozens of northern First Nations, including St. Theresa Point — says it does not condone the crime, but does not accept how the men dragged the woman into a isolated area of ​​the store.

Physical force should be avoided to arrest suspected shoplifters unless necessary, and a female employee or third-party witness should be present for any interactions in private areas when women are detained for shoplifting alleged, MKO said in a press release on Thursday.

The organization also says retailers must put transparent measures in place to stop suspected shoplifters, including surveillance cameras in spaces where detained people are taken, and training to ensure staff understand the socio-economic factors that can lead to shoplifting.

Wood also wants to see cultural awareness training introduced into the store, but for now, she says she won't be returning.

“I'm too afraid.”