Three guards who chased an alleged shoplifter Nov. 27 at the
Safeway grocery store on East Dunne Avenue have been suspended by
Monument Security.
Morgan Hill
Three guards who chased an alleged shoplifter Nov. 27 at the Safeway grocery store on East Dunne Avenue have been suspended by Monument Security.
Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling said Monday the guards were placed on leave by Monument Security following the death of Salinas resident Atalberto Madrid, 47, who was pronounced dead at Saint Louise Regional Hospital shortly after the chase.
Dowling said the company’s investigation into the incident is ongoing, and Safeway is cooperating with the Morgan Hill Police Department in its own investigation into the incident. Safeway still uses Monument Security guards, he said.
Madrid died following a chase by the guards through the parking lot of the Safeway store, a pursuit of approximately 100 yards. He first ran north away from the store towards the Shell gas station then turned west towards the Burger King restaurant. The guards caught up with him outside the exit from the Burger King’s drive through lane.
A shopping cart full of meat and alcohol valued at nearly $800 was found outside the store.
The guards cuffed Madrid, and Morgan Hill police arrived shortly after and discovered Madrid was not breathing at approximately 4:15 p.m. Officers started CPR and uncuffed Madrid, and paramedics took over, transporting him to the hospital. He was later pronounced dead.
Attempts to reach Madrid’s family were unsuccessful. He was believed to be a resident of Salinas or Greenfield. The Times has unsuccessfully tried to reach the family by calling listings under the Madrid’s last name in both cities without success.
Repeated calls to Monument Security were not returned.
The Morgan Hill Police Department’s investigation into the death of Madrid is on hold pending toxicology results, according to Cmdr. David Swing.
Swing said, like any other death, detectives are awaiting toxicology results since the autopsy did not show an obvious cause of death.
Meanwhile, a former Monument Security guard, who declined to be identified, called the Times a few days after the death after reading about the incident in the newspaper. He said the company that employed the three guards did not require extensive training for its guards when he worked for the company in 1997.
The former Monument Security guard said when he worked for the company, guards worked in teams of two. If there were three guards, he speculated, one of them was in training.
He said Monument Security guards were not encouraged to chase suspects, but to watch them and ask them to return to the store if they felt they were suspicious. Employees were told to contact police, he added.
The former employee said that Monument Security guards, at the time he worked for the company, were told not to go beyond 100 feet outside the store. If the merchandise was recovered, he said, there was no need for the guards to chase after Madrid.
The private security industry is represented by the California Association of Licensed Security Agencies, Guards and Associates, or CALSAGA. William Hodges, deputy associate manager for the organization, said that California has the highest standards for security guards in the nation.
Forty hours of training are required for guards, with eight hours of refresher training each year afterward, Hodges said. Mandatory background checks with both the FBI and the Department of Justice are also part of the process.
“No other state has those requirements,” he said.
California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services is the regulatory agency, Hodges said. Information on the agency’s Web site states that the mandatory 40 hours training went into effect in 2004, prior to that it was three hours.
Hodges said he could not comment on the Monument Security guards at the Safeway specifically, but he said California security guards are given “post orders” which are unique to different jobs and environments.
“It’s a set list of guidelines on what to do that varies from place to place and situation to situation,” he said.
For example, a building security officer may have post orders to mainly be a “visual deterrent,” he said, to observe and report and to contact law enforcement officers if necessary.
