The kid? Where did you get the idea it was a kid. The article refers to him as a man. Your take on this astounds me.
Did the marine push the man, or did the man back away because he didn’t want to give up the clipboard? I still marvel at your ability to interpret this in the most favorable light for the person who took the clipboard. You find the marine at fault, and the man just being taken advantage of at that point.
What more can I say? Perhaps the marine should have said, “Hey... like I’m sorry I challenged you... can I please have my clipboard back? Please forgive me will ya. I was so out of line to challenge you once the alarm went off.” Good grief.
Once the man took the clipboard, he was at fault. Once he accosted the employee rather than comply, he was the guilty party.
What do you think the job of the greeter is, if an alarm goes off when a person exits? Of course the guy is going to ask the customer to take a look. Big deal. One short look in the bag checked against the receipt and the customer would be on his way.
Instead he become physical. And taking that clipboard was assault. You cannot touch another person, period.
That said, the younger man was at fault for grabbing the clipboard. At that point, charges MAY have been possible, as he only grabbed the clipboard.
The greeter (knowingly or deliberately) escalated the situation by
1) Following the man inside
2) Jumping the man and shoving the man into the pylon. At that point the greeter can have assault charges filed on him.
I have no idea of what was said, very likely it has some bearing.
The man then lands a glancing blow to the greeters head, (now it is assault) who in turn, struck the man hard enough “he would have been knocked out” Assault again.
I had hoped to avoid this comment -
If the man who grabbed the clipboard had a knife or gun, the greeter would be dead.
I don't know about you, but a minimum wage job is not worth my life, or even being injured.
The greeter could have (and I believe should have)
1) Stayed outside and waited for Security
2) Stayed outside and taken down the license number of the car - oops, that is his primary job, eh?
3) Calmly walked back inside and asked for his clipboard.
It is easy to get in a fight and get hurt, or hurt someone else.
It is even harder to be a MAN and try to deescalate the situation.
Like I said earlier, the greeter was likely an old school Marine.
And as a manager I would have canned him on the spot. Well, we would have to the office and in front of at least one witness, fired him for cause.
Not because of the customer, but I would not want to pay for a dead or injured employee, or even an injured (other) customer.