A Salinas man whom police believe was shoplifting at Safeway
died Tuesday evening following an altercation with store security
personnel trying to apprehend him following the alleged crime.
Morgan Hill
A Salinas man whom police believe was shoplifting at Safeway died Tuesday evening following an altercation with store security personnel trying to apprehend him following the alleged crime.
Police identified the man as Atalberto Madrid, 47, of Greenfield. Neither the guards nor police were hurt during the incident and neither the guards nor the suspect were armed, according to police.
At approximately 4:11 p.m., three guards chased Madrid approximately 100 yards from the store entrance north to the Shell gas station where he turned south and ran along the Burger King drive-through lane to the corner of the Walnut Grove Drive entrance to the parking lot, where the guards caught and cuffed him, said Morgan Hill police Cmdr. David Swing.
After a scuffle, Madrid stopped breathing, Swing added.
“When we responded, we found there was a subject who was unresponsive, had no pulse and wasn’t breathing,” he said.
Police officers attempted to rescucitate Madrid, who was transported to Saint Louise Regional Hospital, Swing said. A nursing supervisor at the hospital declined comment after being instructed to refer all media calls to Morgan Hill police Cmdr. Joe Sampson.
Madrid’s autopsy results did not reveal a clear cause of death, Swing said, and toxicology results won’t be available for six to eight weeks. A Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office representative said Madrid was a Salinas resident, but police said he was a Greenfield resident.
Swing said Madrid had nothing in his hands when he was allegedly attempting to flee the area, and there were no weapons used during the struggle.
The guards work for Monument Security, an outside security firm that Safeway employs based in McClellan, Calif. Repeated calls to Monument Security’s San Jose office were forwarded to CEO Scott McDonald’s voice mail, but McDonald never returned the calls.
Nancy Cedano, a general manager at the Burger King restaurant in the Safeway parking lot, said she saw the man run by the restaurant’s drive-through window who was then seen being tackled to the ground by three security personnel from Safeway.
“They put his hands on his back and he was yelling and trying to move,” Cedano said.
After they tackled and subdued him, the man cursed at the Safeway employees, who were on top of him for about 10 minutes, Cedano said.
Robert Esquivel, the store manager at Safeway, referred media calls to the regional spokesperson.
Brian Dowling, a Safeway spokesman for Northern California, said the guards were not at work at the store on Wednesday, but he did not know if they had been placed on suspension or leave by the private security company due to the incident.
“We’re working cooperatively with local law enforcement concerning the death,” Dowling said. “We’re not in a position to comment further as this is a law enforcement matter.”
Safeway is also conducting its own investigation of the incident, he added.
“Safeway has rigorous and strict set of policies and procedures related to the proper handling of theft at our stores,” Dowling said.
Monument Security trains the guards, not Safeway, he said.
Madrid was caught on store videotape loading up a shopping cart, which was later found outside the store. The cart, Swing said, contained seven bottles of tequila, five alcohol-related gift sets, a bottle of Jack Daniels bourbon, a bottle of Smirnoff vodka, packages of steaks and hamburger patties worth nearly $800.
Madrid had a felony warrant for commercial burglary from Monterey County, Swing said.
The eastbound intersection at East Dunne Avenue and Walnut Grove Drive was cordoned off with crime scene tape Tuesday evening, as was the south side of the intersection on Walnut Grove Drive while officers investigated.
Swing said that Morgan Hill police policy requires officers responding to such a scene treat the area as a crime scene to gather all possible evidence in the event the incident is determined to be a homicide.
Traffic along East Dunne Avenue was backed up in the eastbound lanes.
