Employee Statement: Fill & Download for Free

20 some years ago I was shopping for my then 6 year old sister (I was 23) at a Toys R Us. The hot toy that year was a Barbie Dream Boat and the store had one left the week before Christmas stored in a top shelf. As I was grabbing the box a lady at the other end of the aisle yelled that she had seen it first so it was hers. Since I actually had my hands on this relatively large box I informed her that it was indeed mine. Went thru the checkout line and paid for it. As I was walking out the door I was met by two not very happy police officers with their hands on their weapons. They informed me that I was under arrest for threatening someone with a gun. I decided to keep my hands on the box and let the officers know where my weapon was. Once properly relieved of my weapon and wallet I was placed in handcuffs. I explained my side of the story to the officers that I had never intentionally shown my weapon but was reaching to the top shelf with both hands and my weapon may have inadvertently shown. There was a store employee in the aisle who had watched the exchange between me and this lady so the officers got that employees statement. By dumb luck there was a video camera that caught part of this as it happened near the electronics counter. The employee’s statement matched mine and the video showed that I was either reaching for or holding with both hands the box that this lady wanted. At no time could I have possibly brandished my weapon during the time I saw her. I was released after several minutes of conversation over my choice of weapon and the customary run my ID and make sure my carry permit was still valid. She got a rather angry lecture from a couple of officers over making up stories.

To answer a slightly different question, no, I do not regret our statements.I completely get the objections of various people who think my actions were inappropriate. They are very understandable and in fact, were I to observe a similar occurrence from the outside, I would have almost identical criticisms.In fact, we considered multiple courses of action, including:Just ignoring the AMA, knowing that it would be gone within 24 hoursCommunicating with the ex-employee privatelyMaking a much milder public statement, along the lines suggested in Gayle Laakmann McDowell's answer.I would have personally preferred any of the above solutions, had they been feasible. It is and remains our policy to not comment publicly about employees who leave our company, even if the circumstances are less than ideal, and even if they subsequently say negative things about reddit. Keen observers of reddit will note that we get plenty of bad things said about us all the time and we just generally don't say anything. Unfortunately, this was a highly unusual and exceptional circumstance.I am not able to disclose all of the factors that contributed to our decision - and I hope that other people who run companies and have dealt with unusual and complex personnel issues will understand this.Our response was composed only after considering all other options and ruling them out. It was also not posted in immediate response to the ex-employee's statements. The low-granularity timestamps and ordering of comments make it look like I "jumped in" to respond to his comments - but several hours passed between when he made the majority of his comments (including many others in the same AMA thread) and when we concluded that making the reply we did was the appropriate course of action.As someone who would usually be in the same position of calling for professionalism and restraint, especially in a situation where there is a power differential, after reviewing things with perfect hindsight and the full set of information we had, I am still forced to conclude that the course of action we chose was the best one.The big lesson I've learned in this job is that the range of situations you will contend with when leading a company (or in any significant leadership position) is far, far greater than what you read about in management consulting books and advice blog posts.

You have a right to self-defence BUT the response has to be in proportion to attacker.If “Jimmy” the 16-year old buffed out thug attacks you then you have a right to defend yourself as if he was 19.If “Timmy” the gawky 90 pound 12 year old “attacks” you then no you cannot beat the snot out of him, to make him fly right.When I was in my 20s I managed a Fast food place in a rural town; at close one night I had “Jimmy” in my store. He was drunk and when I told him to leave he rushed me; I proceed to put him on his Butt and drag him outside and lock the door; after I did that I called the Sheriff and the store owners. Both had been at the store for about 5 minutes when Jimmy’s mommy shows up -Jimmy in tow- screaming and yelling how I attacked her MINOR CHILD and I needed to be arrested for doing that to her baby. Sheriff called for another Deputy and when he arrived he politely - no cuffs put me in the squad car while they investigated. They just wanted to take my employees statements with me not present. They took Jimmy and Mommies statements and then talked to the kids that were working with me; Officer came out, took my statement and went back inside. Officer then arrested Jimmy for Drunk and disorderly as well as Simple Assault and then arrested Mommy when she slapped the officer for doing that.