Walmart employees detain shoplifter, charged with manslaughter after he dies

Jul 31, 2016

Three Florida Walmart employees have been charged in the death of a man that they detained for shoplifting.

Nathan Higgins, 35, Crucelis Nunez, 23, and Randall Tomko, 58, have each been charged with manslaughter after they stopped Kenneth Wisham from leaving the store with around $400 worth of DVDs.

After Wisham tripped the security alarm, the employees approached and asked to see his receipt for the items in his cart. Wisham patted himself down as he pretended to look for the receipt before he simply left the cart and fled. The employees pursued him until he fell to the ground.

Tomko said that he never touched Wisham but called 911 when he noticed that Wisham had stopped breathing after the fall. However, Nunez said Tomko and Higgins jumped on top of Wisham after being “slightly pushed.” Tomko, Nunez said, was on top of Wisham’s torso while Higgins retrained his legs as Wisham shouted, “Get off of me. I didn’t do anything.”

When police arrived, Tomko was performing chest compressions on Wisham. Wisham had died of suffocation from being forced into a position where he could not breathe.

“If you are shoplifting there is a result that you have to pay, it should not result in losing your life,” police spokesman Sgt. Gary Gross told ABC station WFTS-TV.