Wal-Mart scuffle prompts racism claims

[Saison]

link

This much isn't in dispute: Heather Ellis cut in line at a Wal-Mart nearly three years ago.

But the accounts of what happened next vary, depending on whom you ask -- and has divided this economically struggling Missouri town of 11,000 along racial lines.

Ellis, then a college student with no criminal history, said some white patrons shoved and hurled racial slurs at her when she switched checkout lines at Wal-Mart in January 2007.

Store employees refused to give her back her change and called police, she said.

And when she was taken outside to the parking lot, an officer allegedly told her to "Go back to the ghetto." Another roughed her up, she said.

Witnesses and police offer a different take: Ellis was belligerent, shoving merchandise belonging to another customer to make way for hers on the conveyor belt, kicking one officer in the shin and splitting another's lip.
At the time, Ellis was a pre-med student at Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

She was home visiting relatives when she made a trip to Wal-Mart on January 6, 2007, to pick up some items for her mother. Ellis' 15-year-old cousin was with her.

After selecting their items, the two stood in different checkout lines. Noticing that her cousin's line was moving faster, Ellis cut in next to him, angering other customers.

In the arguments that followed, Ellis yelled so loudly that employees in the back of the store could hear her, prosecutor Morley Swingle said during his opening statements Wednesday.

Ellis "went ballistic in a profane tirade," he said.

When police arrived to remove her from the store, Ellis confronted them with the "worst kind of cussing imaginable," Swingle said.

"If you arrest me, I will kick your [expletive]," Ellis told one officer, according to the prosecutor.

She repeatedly kicked one officer in the shin and another in the face, police said.

"I ain't going nowhere until I get my [expletive] change back," Ellis told officers, according to a police incident report.

"She resisted arrest, kicked her feet and stiffened her body" when officers tried to put her in the police cruiser, the report said.

Customer Teresa Kinder testified that Ellis shoved her items back on the checkout conveyor belt to make room for her own. When Kinder protested, Ellis allegedly threatened her with violence.

Not sure what to believe.

[Zordar]

Not sure what to believe.

Believe both.

Given the witnesses, she probably was being belligerent. Given the locale, the people who dealt with her were probably racist.

[soylentgreen]

I love this country.

I'm sorry, but just because you think your line isn't moving fast enough, that doesn't give you the right to cut into another line just because your cousin is in that line. The whole situation is ridiculous. Ellis acted stupidly...causing other people to act stupidly too.

[Sparkly Mary]

There is her side, the cops' side, the employee's side and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

[fat mike]

[soylentgreen]

Originally Posted by Sparkly Mary

There is her side, the cops' side, the employee's side and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Did she or didn't she cut in line? Is that part of the story in dispute? For me, that's when the trouble started. Race isn't significant.

[fat mike]

Noticing that her cousin's line was moving faster, Ellis cut in next to him, angering other customers.

i guess not

[jwreck]

Something doesn't add up. If the altercation started as soon as she got into the other line, why did they still have a transaction with her, and then not give her her change?

[Sparkly Mary]

Originally Posted by jwreck

Something doesn't add up. If the altercation started as soon as she got into the other line, why did they still have a transaction with her, and then not give her her change?

That part doesn't make any sense, does it?

[fat mike]

that is a little odd

[Saison]

Customer Teresa Kinder testified that Ellis shoved her items back on the checkout conveyor belt to make room for her own. When Kinder protested, Ellis allegedly threatened her with violence.

More from the article...Not sure if this clarifies any, but it gives you an idea of how close to the front of the line she cut.

[DamnYankee]

Ellis thought she was special when in fact she needed her ass kicked by the cops.

[Sparkly Mary]

Wonder if pictures were taken, and if so when they'll end up on www.peopleofwalmart.com.

[DamnYankee]

I'm sure it's on camera.

[jwreck]

Originally Posted by DamnYankee

I'm sure it's on camera.

The article says the camera doesn't show the original altercation, just from the door to the parking lot.

[fat mike]

Originally Posted by DamnYankee

Ellis thought she was special when in fact she needed her ass kicked by the cops.

soem people think its ok if you stand next to a freind in line-im a clerk -i see this all the time-if the line doesnt care you let it go to move things along...

[seekerofvisions]

Originally Posted by DamnYankee

Ellis thought she was special when in fact she needed her ass kicked by the cops.

we dont live in the wild west, cops cant just go about kicking the asses of those they feel are causing trouble.

Originally Posted by Saison

More from the article...Not sure if this clarifies any, but it gives you an idea of how close to the front of the line she cut.

i have a problem with people cutting in line. if it's directly in front of me i generally say something. but it has a lot to do with how the clerk handled it. perhaps the clerk felt that she was with her cousin to begin with and simply had still been shopping and finally caught up with him.

if it was a blatant interruption into the line then the clerk had the responsibilty to stop her if he/she could do so without too much trouble. i mean, a line cut isnt worthy of calling security or what have you, but it upsets the customers who have been waiting.

[Dick Tator]

Originally Posted by Sparkly Mary

There is her side, the cops' side, the employee's side and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

That's the stupidest shit I've ever heard. That means that NOBODY is honest and EVERYBODY is a liar. I am willing to concede that yes, the whites likely called her a crazy n1gger when she cut in line and started going crazy. But the police? I doubt they are lying in this situation. I'm no fan of the police, but I don't see this being one of those cases that needs to be protested.

[Dick Tator]

Originally Posted by fat mike

soem people think its ok if you stand next to a freind in line-im a clerk -i see this all the time-if the line doesnt care you let it go to move things along...

Whenever I'm at walmart with the wife and I see someone with a buggy full of goods in the 20 item or less line, I like to point to them and say loudly, "Look honey! More people that can't count to twenty!" I've actually seen people get so embarrassed that they walked out of the store without their shit.

[seekerofvisions]

Originally Posted by Dick Tator

That's the stupidest shit I've ever heard. That means that NOBODY is honest and EVERYBODY is a liar. I am willing to concede that yes, the whites likely called her a crazy n1gger when she cut in line and started going crazy. But the police? I doubt they are lying in this situation. I'm no fan of the police, but I don't see this being one of those cases that needs to be protested.

i would say it's closer to: everyone has an opinion as to what happened and somewhere in the middle is the truth. not so much that they are lying, but how they interpret the facts.