Walmart Worker Fired After Helping Woman Being Attacked
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Scott Olson/Getty Images(DETROIT) — A 30-year-old Michigan man has been fired from his job at Walmart after coming to the aid of a woman being attacked in the store’s parking lot.
Kristopher Oswald says he was on a break from his job at the Walmart in Hartland and sitting in his car around 2:30 a.m. when he saw a woman screaming after a guy grabbed her by the arms.
Oswald says he went over to the woman and asked her what was wrong and if she needed help. He says that’s when the guy attacked him and he defended himself.
Police quickly arrived on the scene, but the trouble wasn’t over for Oswald.
Oswald told ABC News affiliate WXYZ-TV in Detroit that Walmart fired him, and the explanation on his termination papers states that “after a violation of company policy on his lunch break, it was determined to end his temporary assignment.”
Oswald just started working for Walmart about seven weeks ago and wouldn’t have been considered permanent until after 180 days. He says the retailer has policies regarding workplace violence to prevent workers from tackling a shoplifter or assaulting a fellow employee, but there is nothing in place that allows them to exercise self-defense or come to the aid of persons in danger.
Despite losing his job, Oswald says he would do it again: “I’m always gonna act the right way and do the right thing, even after all of this.”
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