Texas – A brave veteran acted on instinct when he threw a paint roller extension at the feet of one of the three suspects in an effort to stop them from making off with tool sets worth thousands of dollars. Home Depot promptly fired Jim Tinney for doing what came from from Army training: “In the Army, they train you to do things like that. I just automatically went like this and threw the stick at their feet.”

The three suspects dodged the paint roller extension and got away.

Tinney thought the incident was behind him but learned a few weeks later that his brave actions would get him fired. He admitted that company representatives were clear during training sessions not to confront shoplifters: “I think they could have written me up, reprimanded me, but terminate me? That’s pretty strong. I’m 70 years old. I need to work. I needed that job. I enjoyed working with customers figuring out what they wanted to do. It’s fun.”

Home Depot spokesman said the policy is in place to protect employees: “What I can tell you now is that we have a strict policy that only our trained security personnel can pursue and engage shoplifters. We’ve had deaths and serious injury over the years, and no amount of merchandise is more important that the safety of our associates and customers. In fact, in just the past 24 hours we’ve had two shoplifters pull guns at two different stores at both ends of the country. So you can see, it’s a very serious safety risk to everyone, even when it doesn’t appear to be.”

Do you think Home Depot should have fired Jim Tinney? Did they go too far? We think so!

Via: NYP