Clerk may lose job for chasing robber.

Byline: TRICIA SCHWENNESEN The Register-Guard

A south Eugene supermarket clerk who foiled a would-be robber was suspended for at least three days and fears he might lose his job for chasing after the man in violation of company policy.

David Wilton, 19, pursued the robber - who was armed with a BB gun - outside the Albertson's at 3075 Hilyard St. early Tuesday shortly after midnight. Wilton recovered most of the stolen money and the weapon when the suspect tripped and dropped them.

Wilton gave a statement to police, then finished his graveyard shift and went home. He returned to work the next night, worked his entire shift and was getting ready to go home when a store manager told him he'd been suspended,

Wilton said Wednesday.

"I thought I was doing the right thing, but I wasn't," he said. " I just made a mistake."

An Albertson's spokeswoman said she couldn't comment on the company's policy or on Wilton's two years with the company and his suspension.

"We typically don't share our security policies or measures" because the information might be used against the company in future crimes, spokeswoman Jenny Enochson said. "I can assure you that we do have policies in place to ensure a safe shopping environment for our customers and our employees."

After the robbery, Wilton told police what he saw and heard from check stand No. 8, about 10 feet away from where the suspect confronted a manager:

A man in a wool cap and a green military-style jacket walked into the store and asked the manager at the customer service desk if he could still get a money order.

When the manager said it was too late, the man pulled a silver BB gun with a black handle from his pocket and demanded that the manager turn over money he was counting from a register, Wilton said.

"Then he reached on over the counter, grabbed the till and started to run out the doors," Wilton said. "I saw the whole thing that happened at the booth and I started to chase him because if I can catch him before he gets out of the store then I'm fine - but I don't catch him."

So, Wilton followed the man out the west-side doors, across the front of the store and around the corner to a narrow gravel path along the side of the building, he said.

"I was acting in the heat of the moment," Wilton said. "I wasn't thinking about store policy. I was thinking about: How can I get this guy who is stealing from my store?"

And he knew the man had a BB gun - not a more dangerous weapon, he said. "I'd seen the gun and I own the same type of gun," Wilton said.

As the robber rounded the corner to the path, his feet slipped out from beneath him, Wilton said.

"He dropped the till he was carrying and the gun and I started yelling, `Stop. Don't move. Don't get up,' ' Wilton said. "Then he saw me - he didn't know I was right behind him. He thought he'd already gotten away."

The suspect jumped into the bed of a waiting pickup truck and got away.

Wilton gathered up the money and the gun and turned them over to police, he said.

Wilton is to find out today how long his suspension will last or whether he's been fired, he said.

He knew the general guidelines of the company policy on robberies before he chased the man, he said.

"If I just get suspended and I go back to work, I'll learn from my mistake and never chase anyone out of my store again," he said. "If they suspend me for an entire week, I'm going to file an official grievance through my union."

It's hard, he said.

"My first thought was, `Oh, Geez, I made a mistake,' ' he said. But then he thought, "I recovered the pistol, I recovered the fingerprints and I recovered most of the money and I don't think it's fair.

"I'm committed to this company ... and I think I did the right thing."

Eugene police are still looking for the suspect and have no new leads, police spokeswoman Jan Power said. Anyone with information, can call police at 682-5111.