The old saying is ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ and that may be true in the case of Vermont hero Amir Shedyak of Essex, Vermont.  Amir was working at Hannaford supermarket and was just starting his shift when a man alerted him that an older woman’s purse had just been stolen according to a story on the nypost.com.  Shedyak turns and sees a man running fast with the purse in his hand.  Instinct and possible training took over and Shedyak took off after the man.  Shedyak is a volunteer fireman.  When you see something that is not right, you take quick action.

Although he was able to catch the man and retrieve the purse, he was not able to hold him until the police arrived and the thief got away.  The suspect, Adrian Moore, was found later and charged with larceny. The heartbreaking part of this story is that Amir Shedyak was fired after working for Hannaford for four years because of the incident.  He was a great employee working his way up from bagger to shift leader.  If this has you scratching your head, well, most stores have policies in place to protect them from lawsuits.

According to nypost.com, local attorney Pietro Lynn said, “it is not uncommon at all for employers to discourage employees from laying hands-on customers.  There are many cases in Vermont where the employers are held responsible for the wrongful acts of their employee.” The story does have a happy ending. Another store in the area picked him up and he has a new job now.  I hope he goes on to be a fireman.  This is the kind of guy I want to have my back in an emergency.

 

 

 

 

 

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