This is all about the impending lawsuit from the now “injured” perp.
I’m willing to bet that this manager had a conflict between the corporate policy of allowing shoplifters to escape and his obligation to reduce shoplifting losses in order to earn bonuses and maintain his ranking within the corporation to feed his family. I’d be suing Kroger one way or another if I was him.
This is all about the impending lawsuit from the now “injured” perp.
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And or potential cost if the mgr had been injured or disabled.