Indian woman caught shoplifting at Target store in US, cops question her
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New York: A viral video showed police questioning an Indian woman in the US for shoplifting at a Target store.
An officer was heard telling her that ‘Right now you're not free to leave’ just as the woman was ‘sobbing, choking, and gasping for breath,’ according to NDTV.
In the clip, dated January 15, the officer asked her to calm down as she was struggling to breathe.
‘Do me a favour, take a big breath as deep in as you can. You gotta take a deep breath. Do not hyperventilate. Cause I gotta be able to talk to you, and I can't talk to you with you breathing like that,’ the officer said.
To the question if she spoke English she said ‘not very good’ and then police asked about her primary language to which she replied ‘Gujarati’, confirming she was from India.
However, she told the officer she did not need an interpreter.
Considering her state of hyperventilation, police asked if she had any medical conditions.
The store staff told the police that she was caught on surveillance camera walking past the checkout with a cart full of goods.
One officer was heard asking ‘So she just put everything in the cart and then just walked past’.
A staff member replied that she ‘Just walked straight out.’
The woman told police she had a Washington-issued driver's license.
Store staff confirmed that was a regular customer who was caught shoplifting for the first time.
She admitted that she wanted to resell some of the items she had picked from the store.
Officers told her that she would have to appear in court in connection with the case.
In a similar incident in July, another Indian woman was caught stealing merchandise worth about Rs 1.1 lakh from a Target in Illinois.
After spending more than seven hours in the store, the woman tried to leave with a cart full of items.
A footage showed the woman apologizing and offering to pay for the items.
‘I am really sorry to bother you if it is. I am not from this country. I am not going to stay here,’ she was heard telling the police.
To which a police officer responded, ‘Are you allowed to steal things in India? I did not think so.’
