TOLEDO, Ohio — A loss prevention officer was involved in an incident on Thursday, allegedly striking and appearing to assault a man whom he claimed to have observed "concealing several items in a bag" from another store while shopping at Dick's Sporting Goods in the Franklin Park Mall.
The fight happened around 2 p.m. on July 2. A witness recorded the incident on their cellphone, later posting the video online, where it went viral.
In a report following the incident, Toledo police said they responded to an initial call of a possible robbery.
When they arrived on the scene, the Dick's Sporting Goods loss prevention officer identified a man as the suspect in the possible robbery. Officers then spoke with the man, Aaron Buckenmeyer, who told police that he grabbed several food items near the cash registers and put them in a blue Aeropostale shopping bag.
Buckenmeyer said that after placing the items in the bag, the loss prevention officer confronted him, throwing him to the ground and punching him repeatedly in the face.
The loss prevention officer told police that he perceived Buckenmeyer to be 'concealing several items' in a bag. He said that when he confronted Buckenmeyer, Buckenmeyer headbutted him and in response, he threw him on the ground. The loss prevention officer also accused Buckenmeyer of grabbing his genitals several times during the fight.
The witness who recorded the incident on their cell phone showed police officers the video.
Officers said after watching the video, it appeared that the two involved in the fight were face-to-face, nearly touching, and that the loss prevention officer then placed Buckenmeyer in a choke hold and used a take down technique to get him on the ground. Officers said the video also shows the loss prevention officer uppercutting Buckenmeyer with a closed-fist punch. Buckenmeyer was shown grabbing the loss prevention officer's genitals during the struggle.
The video also showed the loss prevention officer punching Buckenmeyer several times with a closed fist.
The police officer recorded the video with their body cam.
Toledo Fire and Rescue responded to the scene to treat Buckenmeyer for a bloody nose and bloody lip. Buckenmeyer also complained of head trauma and a possible concussion and was later transported by ambulance to a local hospital.
The loss prevention officer was detained and taken to the Safety Building where he was later released without charges. His name has not yet been released, per TPD policy, as no charges have been filed at this time.
A detective arrived on scene to review the store's video recording of the incident. However, the incident occurred in a blind spot and was not caught on store cameras.
The investigation into this incident is ongoing.
Editor's note: This is an amended version of a story published earlier to our social media pages and here on our website. In the interest of transparency, we have corrected some factual errors that were present in the original version of this writing to clarify events and reflect the exact wording from Toledo police. The loss prevention officer is not facing assault charges at the time of this writing. Additionally, no charges of shoplifting have been filed against Buckenmeyer at this time.
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