UPDATE, May 9: The man in the video who flipped over the fruit is the co-owner of the Grocery Outlet in Merced. His name is Mike Bodwell, and he and co-owner Noelle Bodwell shared the following statement with local media:
“We had an unauthorized vendor selling non-affiliated produce of unknown quality —we weren’t even sure if it was safe to consume— on the property during business hours. The unauthorized vendor was asked to leave the property on multiple occasions. Each time, he would refuse to leave while verbally abusing management and harassing our customers.”
“When he would eventually leave the property, he would return a short while later. This continued over several hours. In the process of escorting him from our parking lot to the public sidewalk off property, his basket inadvertently tipped over. This was unfortunate ending to what was already an unpleasant scenario.”
ORIGINAL STORY
We got this one from a reader who asked us to share the following Facebook post that has been making the rounds for the past couple of days. In a video taken at the parking lot of the Grocery Outlet in Merced, California, you can see a store employee approaching a young man who was selling fruit outside the lot. The employee approaches the young man, cursing at him. Then you see the employee knocking over the young man’s fruit.
https://www.facebook.com/100004972274711/videos/pcb.1225402177635513/1225402094302188/
A comment thread about the video offers more details speculating about what possibly happened in this case. Some are claiming that it was the store’s manager or owner who did this, but so far, Latino Rebels cannot confirm that. Also, news of the video is being shared throughout several pages and groups.
Not surprisingly, reviews of the Merced store are being posted on Facebook, as well on Grocery Outlet’s posts. Latino Rebels has contacted Grocery Outlet for comment. If the company responds to our request, we will share their reply here.
Grocery Outlet is a national chain of discount stores, founded in 1946.