Dollarama investigating after video shows security dragging alleged shoplifter to back of Winnipeg store

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.

A woman has been charged and Dollarama is investigating after security guards dragged a suspected shoplifter to the back of one of its Winnipegstores earlier this week.

Dora Wood says she was at the Dollarama on Portage Avenue, near Donald Street in the city's downtown, around noon on Wednesday when she saw two security guards pinning a woman, who Wood said appeared to be Indigenous, to the ground inside the store.

"They were roughing her up," she told CBC on Saturday. "She was laying on the ground, helpless, and that guy had his knee on top of her [back], and she's a small lady."

Wood says she started recording the incident on her cellphone shortly after.

WATCH |Eyewitness video shows Dollarama security drag woman to back of store:

Eyewitness video shows Dollarama security drag woman to back of store

6 months ago

Duration 1:50

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.Dora Wood says she took this video as security detained a woman accused of shoplifting at the Dollarama on Portage Avenue near Donald Street in downtown Winnipeg on Wednesday. CBC has altered the video to conceal faces and profanities

At the start of the video, two men are seen pulling a woman, whose hands appear to be bound behind her back,down an aisle toward a room marked "employees only." The woman cries out that she does not want to be taken there and tries to get away, but the men hold onto her arms and pull her into the room.

"We already arrested you," a guard tells the woman, as he appears to drag her into the room.

Wood and another man yell at the security guards not to take the woman to an area further back in the room,as they record the incident on their cellphones. The man holds the door open as another person, who appears to be an employee, assures him that the woman will not be harmed.

"We have a licence, and we are justified to arrest people in the case of shoplifting," a security guard tells the man.

Wood begins to film through the crack of the open door, and the woman accused of shoplifting is seen continuing to scream and cry, sayingshe wants to be let go. The men who dragged her into the room hold her arms and restrain her as she thrashes.

"I want to get out," she yells. "Leave me alone, let me go."

One employee urges her to calm down before Wood's video ends.

CBC has not been able to verify the identity of the woman in the video, but Wood says she was later told by a St. Theresa Point councillor that the woman is from that northern Manitoba First Nation.

Wood says she's angry about how the situation at the store was handled.

"There are more ways to handle it more properly, especially with an Indigenous woman."

A Dollarama spokesperson told CBC its loss prevention officers are authorized to observe people who conceal merchandise and/or exit the store without paying for it, but the franchise does not permit any use of force to apprehend suspected shoplifters.

"Upon learning of this incident, Dollarama immediately put the third-party security firm on notice while we investigate why protocol was not followed and to ensure that Dollarama standards are followed in the future," the spokesperson said in a Friday statement.

Woman charged

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Jason Michalyshen said officers were called to the Dollarama Wednesday regarding a shoplifter in the custody of loss prevention officers.

A 32-year-old woman was arrested, taken into police custody and charged with theft under $5,000, possession of methamphetamine and on two outstanding warrants, he said. Shewas released on an undertaking.

Wood says she doesn't feel the charges justify how the woman in the video was treated.

"They still shouldn't have treated her that way. They should have properly handled the situation," she said.

"They should have just waited for the cops to come instead of taking her to the back. Roughing her around like that is uncalled for."

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak an advocacy organization that represents dozens of northernFirst Nations,says it does not condone crime, but does not accept how the men dragged the woman into a secluded area of the store.

Physical force should be avoided to detain suspected shoplifters unless necessary, and a female employee or third-party witness should be present for any interactions in private spaces when women are detained for alleged shoplifting, MKO said in a Thursday news release.

The organization also says retailers must havetransparent measures to detain alleged shoplifters, including surveillance cameras in spaces where detained people are taken, and training to ensure staff understand socio-economic factors that can lead to shoplifting.

Wood also wants to see cultural sensitivity training introduced at the store, but for now, she says she won't be returning.

"I'm too scared."