Army vet, security guard fired for leveling criminal who punched cop at Best Buy

An Army veteran from California was fired from his job at Best Buy after he assisted deputies in taking down a suspect.

Tyler, who did not give reporters his last name for safety reasons, was formerly employed at the Roseville Best Buy as a security guard when he violated company policy by tackling a man who was resisting arrest.

Tyler was working his post when he saw the chaos unfold in the store parking lot.

“There was a guy who walked by, and when he got by his car, a bunch of undercover sheriffs jumped out to arrest him,” Tyler recounted.

According to WTVM, suspect Timothy Trujillo -who was wanted on a felony warrant- knocked down the Placer County Sheriff’s deputy attempting to restrain him and took off at breakneck speed.

“He started running towards me, so I thought I was doing the right thing by helping the sheriff stop him,” Tyler said.

While PCSO Lieutenant Andrew Scott said that Tyler tackled the suspect, “tackled” is a bit of an understatement.

With the suspect in custody and his good deed for the day complete, Tyler went back inside of Best Buy, where he learned that no good deed goes unpunished.

“I understood when I went back in there that I was probably going to get into some sort of trouble because Best Buy policy says we’re not supposed to touch anybody,” he said.

Sure enough, he was fired a week later.

“My manager told me that corporate had decided to let me go because I used excessive force, and it was against Best Buy’s policy to intervene,” Tyler said.

Best Buy stood by their decision, releasing a statement on their policies.

“Our policy is clear: employees are not to chase potential criminals outside of the store. Chasing an individual in the parking lot creates a safety risk that isn’t worth taking, regardless of how noble an employee’s intention is,” the statement read.

Tyler isn’t terribly upset about losing his job and understands Best Buy’s position. Most of all, however, he’s just happy he could take someone down and help out the police.

“It seemed like the right thing. Like I said, it was someone running from the cops, so it seemed like the logical thing to do,” he said.

Trujillo is still in custody on charges of burglary, assaulting and resisting a peace officer and possession of methamphetamine and burglary tools.

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