A quick-thinking grocery store worker in Essex, Vermont, stopped a thief from fleeing with a woman's purse - and as a result of his good deed his boss fired him.
Amir Shedyak, 20, had been an employee at the Hannaford Supermarket for four years. He had just begun a shift in August when a man told him a thief had robbed a woman of her purse.
Shedyak said he looked to his right and saw a man sprinting across the parking lot with the a purse in hand. He went after the thief - who was later identified as 29-year old Adrian Moore - grabbed him from behind and held him on the pavement before calling the police, The Sun reported.
Shedyak, a volunteer firefighter, was able to retrieve the purse and gave it to the woman but couldn't stop Moore from escaping. Moore was later charged with larceny, reports said.
In a post that Shedyak shared on Facebook, a few days after the incident management placed him on suspension while an investigation was carried out.
Shedyak said in the post that after one week he received a phone call that management had finished the investigation and he could report back for the results. The findings of the investigation "resulted in me getting fired because of safety issues while on company time," Fox News quoted him as saying.
When asked to comment on the incident by a local news organization Hannaford said it didn't comment on "personnel matters." A local lawyer said it was likely Shedyak was terminated because of liability concerns and to avoid the store being sued.
Shedyak said the woman tried to offer him money but he declined, saying "I just wanted to help and do what is right," the New York Post quoted Shedyak saying in a report.
Shedyak, who was quickly hired by another company, said he had no ill feeling toward his fellow workers or managers but felt what he had done wasn't wrong and shouldn't have resulted in him losing his job.
