Apparently now, in the San Francisco Bay Area, confronting a serial thief might get you set on fire.
A California Bay Area store clerk is recovering from grievous wounds after he was lit on fire with stolen lighter fluid by a serial shoplifter.
The clerk, identified as Suraj, was lit on fire after he confronted serial shoplifter Kendall Burton on Sept. 22 at an Appian Food and Liquor store in El Sobrante, according to a Sunday report.
Video of the incident was posted to YouTube and shows Suraj being dowsed and set aflame before others in the store come to his aid.
The clerk suffered second- and third-degree burns on his face, neck, chest, and shoulder, and he remains in a local hospital, the report noted.
"It's terrible," Suraj said. "You know, I'm still in a trauma right now. The pain is like 7,8, you know, out of 10, and when we clean the wound, it's like over 10."
Suraj in the hospital after being savagely attacked by a repeat shoplifter.
The assault was captured by a security camera; warning, this video is disturbing.
This is beyond theft. It's beyond even attempted murder (which, in any sane world, would be the least of the charges against the perpetrator.) This is utter savagery, pure and simple. Members of a civilized society simply do not act like this.
But attempted murder does not seem to be on the menu at this point although, at least, Kendall Burton has been denied the California revolving door:
Suraj has worked as a clerk at Appian Food and Liquor for about five years, and he confronted Burton after a co-worker informed him that Burton had stolen from the store multiple times, each time taking lighter fluid, according to the report.
"He just, you know, splashed the lighter fluid on my face, and I was so scared in that moment, and I don't know what to do," the clerk said. "I come to stop him, and I don't remember. He just lit the fire on me."
Authorities arrested Burton, who has been identified as a homeless man, and he is facing assault with a deadly weapon, battery, arson, and robbery, the report noted.
Burton is being held without bail.
That Burton is being held without bail is something, one must suppose, especially given some of the stupid policies big-city officials are putting in place to deal with rampant theft, and especially since this occurred in Contra Costa County, home of Soros DA Diana Becton, who infamously instituted a requirement during the BLM riots that law enforcement officers and her Deputy DA's to determine whether a shoplifter "needed" an item before charging them with theft.
But, while retailers and even customers are starting to push back against brazen thieves, this incident in the Bay Area represents a significant escalation. This is an act that casts every civilized norm to the wind; it's Lord of the Flies-level stuff.
But then, so are the looting mobs that seem to erupt at every tiny provocation - or at no provocation at all.
A common question among the right - and some on the left - of late has been: "How do we save our cities?" This kind of action has to make one wonder if we can save our cities. It is much easier, after all, for civilized people to descend into savagery than it is for the savage to put on the mantle of a civilized person. And that may be precisely the problem we are facing, today, in places like the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. The kind of person represented by someone like Kendall Burton is an example of one who has descended into savagery, and it's difficult to know what to do with people like him without descending into savagery ourselves.
None of this bodes well for the survival of our cities - or our country.
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