Dallas Police Officer Charged After Stealing $800 In Groceries
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A Dallas police officer is charged with theft, after walking out of a Walmart with more than $800 worth of groceries.
According to a police report, Officer Christopher Hankins, 30, was wearing his Dallas Police Department windbreaker, his badge, and his 9mm department issued gun, when he was stopped by police outside the store in Cross Roads, Texas, several miles east of Denton shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
An officer with the Northeast Police Department, who was waved down by a store manager, says he approached Hankins in the parking lot and asked for a receipt.
"Hankins began patting his pockets and looking at the car… then stated he didn't have one," the officer wrote in his report.
Hankins claimed he had been waiting for his 19-year-old girlfriend near the store's entrance, when he looked outside to see if she was in the car and noticed his vehicle missing.
Hankins told police he left the store "in a panic" while still pushing the cart of groceries to look for his car.
Two officers at the scene described "a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on Hankins' breath." They found his car in the parking lot "in the general direction he had been proceeding."
Inside the car, officers say they could see "two partially consumed beverages that still had ice in them, both of which appeared to be an alcoholic beverage."
Employees told police Hankins had spent 2-3 hours inside the store and was acting suspicious.
They claimed, after filling up his cart, Hankins walked to the produce area and sat on a produce cooler for at least 20 minutes, appearing to fall asleep at times. When employees standing near the door walked away, they say, Hankins stood up and began pushing the cart out of the exit doors.
"They state at no time did he appear to be upset of in any type of distress as he claimed and that he 'strolled' out of the store with the cart full of unpaid merchandise," an officer wrote in his report.
According to the police report, his cart contained 169 items, worth $826.90 before tax.
Police say they could not locate Hankins' girlfriend but that store staff did report seeing a woman matching the description he provided.
"She was said to have left a large cart of items behind before disappearing," wrote an officer.
Hankins was booked into the Denton County jail. Northeast Police says it seized his windbreaker, badge, and gun at the request of a Dallas Police supervisor.
The Dallas Police Department says it has placed Officer Hankins on administrative leave pending its own internal affairs investigation into the matter.