A California college student named Jessie Sotto was fired from Dollar General as a cashier after she hit a suspected shoplifter with her car.
Sotto allegedly rammed her car into the suspected shoplifter, who was making off with stolen flowers, chips, donuts, bread, cheese, bologna and other items on his bicycle, TMZ reported.
“Who the f– do you think you are stealing from my store?” Sotto told the alleged shoplifter.
The items were then knocked out of the unnamed and alleged shoplifter’s possession, with doorbell footage from a residential street showing a recording of the incident. The impact of the ramming not only knocked the items out of the bike’s basket but also knocked the alleged shoplifter onto the pavement of someone’s driveway.
Sotto and the alleged shoplifter argued over who was at fault. The alleged shoplifter admits on the hidden door camera that people steal at the Fresno, Calif. Dollar General “all the time” and that “it ain’t that f-ing serious.” The suspected shoplifter managed to collect whatever items he could before Sotto grabbed them, but with his bike destroyed, the suspected looter retreated on foot.
TMZ did not report when the incident took place, but Newsweek reported that it happened on May 11, the day May 24 is when it got viral attention from some users who thought hitting a shoplifter with a car was excessive.
The original video on Twitter, which is marked private and cannot be embedded or easily shared online, had more than 15 million views.
The user “@4Mischief” who uploaded the video has MAGA (Make America Great Again) on its bio, implying that either or is a Trump supporter and law and order zealot, especially when it comes to delivering justice against people of color.
Both the alleged shoplifter and Sotto are Black, but Sotto may be Hispanic, according to an unverifiable source, MyLife.
The man said he was going to press charges against Sotto, but according to the former cashier, the alleged shoplifter fled, as TMZ reported she never saw or heard from him again, and the police were never called into the situation.
The incident went viral, and the cashier was initially suspended before her new manager told her she was fired.
The 61-year-old former cashier was shocked that she was fired, saying she passionately defended the store, engaged with customers who knew her name, and was pre-approved to pursue the suspected shoplifter by the supervisor, who was not on shift that day.
In her mind, the cashier felt it was right to go after the alleged shoplifter. She also blamed the video going viral for losing her job.
Ironically, Sotto has transitioned from her role as a cashier at Dollar General to a delivery driver for Doordash. Even more ironic is that Sotto is attending college as a criminal justice major because she wants to make a difference.
In California, it is illegal to hit someone with your car, and there are a number of different laws that could be broken for what Sotto did: vehicular manslaughter is a felony charge that can be brought if she killed someone while driving her car. The penalties for vehicular manslaughter can include up to 15 years in prison; hit and run is a misdemeanor charge that can be brought if Sotto left the scene of an accident where someone is injured or killed. The penalties for hit and run can include up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000; reckless driving is also a misdemeanor charge that can be brought if she drove her car in a way that is dangerous to others. The penalties for reckless driving can include up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000; and of course, a DUI is if she was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and she hit someone. The penalties for DUI can be very severe, including up to 10 years in prison.
