Man arrested after shoplifter requests head start, takes TVBy ANSLEE WILLETT THE GAZETTE
It’s hard to shoplift a TV.
But that didn’t stop a man Sunday from walking out with a 23-inch television in plain view of an employee at an electronics store on Academy Boulevard near The Citadel mall.
The man walked into SoundTrack about 5:45 p.m., asked employee Jason Caldwell, “What’s going on?” and headed for the televisions.
Moments later, the man passed Caldwell clutching a display model of a Phillips LCD television, similar to a flat-screen computer monitor, with his jacket draped over it.
Caldwell told him to stop, that he couldn’t just have the TV.
“He said he had to take it,” Caldwell said. “He gave me some story about how someone was going to kill his mom.”
Caldwell said the man whipped out a pocket knife and threatened to cut him before fleeing through a fire exit.
He had one last question: “Can you give me a 10-second delay before calling the cops?”
Caldwell didn’t oblige.
Police collared Ashanti Black, 22, hiding a block away at McDonald’s. The $1,300 TV was stashed in the women’s restroom.
Black was jailed on suspicion of aggravated robbery, theft, menacing with a deadly weapon and drug possession.
Caldwell, who identified Black as the thief, had some explaining to do to his mom, because he was 30 minutes late to a Mother’s Day dinner.
“The police officer told me to tell her he was sorry I was late,” the 22-year-old said. “I had a good excuse.”
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