Stockton 7-Eleven clerks who stopped alleged thief won't be charged, DA says

The 7-Eleven store clerks who can be seen beating an alleged thief with a stick in a now-viral video will not face any criminal charges, the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

"The Stockton 7-Eleven store clerks are not, and have never been, suspects of the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office," District Attorney Ron Freitas said. "Any investigation going forward is to hold accountable the individual who threatened and attempted to rob them."

The video, which has now been viewed millions of times and made national headlines, was filmed July 29 at the 7-Eleven on South Center Street, right across from Stockton Police Department headquarters. In the five-minute clip, a man wearing a blue mask can be seen emptying shelves of cigarettes and other products into a trash can.

"Ain't nothing you can do, man, until police come here," a witness can be heard telling the employees as the masked man attempts to leave the store with the trash can.

That's when the employees decide to intervene. One quickly grabs the trash can and pins the man to the ground while the other beats the man with what appears to be a wooden stick. He strikes the man nearly two dozen times.

It wasn't the first attempted robbery at 7-Eleven's South Center Street location that week, police said.

On July 28, an employee of the same location reported that a man entered the business, went behind the counter, and threatened to shoot the employee if he tried to stop him. The man then took several packs of cigarettes and other items and placed them in a large garbage bag before fleeing, police said.

Then, on July 29, an employee reported that the same man from the previous incident entered the store and demanded money while imitating a gun with his hand. The employee did not comply, and the man grabbed several food items and placed them in a garbage bag before fleeing, police said.

At some point later in the morning, the man is believed to have returned to the store, police said. That's when the incident captured in the video occurred. Stockton police said they were unaware at the time of the attempted robbery.

Tyrone Frazier, 42, was arrested in connection to the series of robberies at 7-Eleven, burglary, and other outstanding warrants, police said Tuesday.

While some have applauded the employees for protecting their business and property, lawmakers in California are hoping to push through legislation that would ban retail staff from stopping thieves that are stealing from their stores. Senate Bill 553, submitted by Sen. Dave Cortese, passed the State Senate in June and progressed to policy committees in the State Assembly.

Crime has become a hot button issue in recent years, particularly retail theft. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spoke about the 7-Eleven incident on his podcast "Verdict with Ted Cruz" Monday.

"Crime has gotten out of control with activist DAs that have been elected by George Soros and those on the left not prosecuting criminals when they commit crimes, catch-and-release policies, defund the police policies, and driving police basically insane by not allowing the laws that are on the books to lock people up," Cruz said before adding that the incident in Stockton was "a great example of this."

Cruz criticized local law enforcement agencies for "going after" the employees. Several media outlets reported that the alleged thief was being investigated for robbery while the employees were being investigated for assault.

Lee Neves, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office, said the office wanted to put those claims to rest and make it clear that the employees were not being investigated.

"There were politicians, mainly Ted Cruz, who were fanning the worst flames possible," Neves said, "coming out and saying the district attorney wasn't going to charge him (the alleged thief) and claiming that the district attorney was a typical California district attorney like George Gascón and Pamela Price. Clear misinformation."

Prosecutors received an outpouring of calls from community members asking for the employees to be pardoned, according to Neves.

"At no point were we looking at the store clerks as suspects and we're not going to charge them as suspects for what happened," he said.

Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton 7-Eleven store clerks in viral video won't face criminal charges