Teen says Safeway employee ran him down, roughed him up

EUGENE, Ore. -- Caleb Tucker said the nightmare began when he and some friends took the bus to south Eugene's Tugman Park on Friday after school.

Tucker's left arm still reminds him of that fateful afternoon.

"It's dislocated up here, separated and I got a sprain in my lower elbow," said Tucker.

The South Eugene High School junior said he and his friends saw a Jeep plowing through the grass.

"I took off running," said Tucker.

Tucker said he ran out of breath and came face to face with one of the men.

"He slams me into a tree," said Tucker. "He pins me to the ground, rips my backpack off. I'm yelling help. After he did all that and checked my backpack and realized I had nothing on me, he left and went back towards the Jeep area."

His alleged attacker left an imprint of what he was wearing deep in Tucker's mind.

"It was a Safeway shirt and Safeway nametag," said Tucker.

Tucker said the Safeway employee may have been looking for a case of stolen beer.

Eugene Police confirmed to KVAL News they got a call from someone at the Safeway at 40th and Donald at 2:55 Friday afternoon. The store is just a few blocks from Tugman Park. The caller told police two teenage boys had just stolen beer.

Tucker insists it wasn't him.

"I wasn't even there," said Tucker. "I wasn't even around it."

KVAL News asked Tucker why he kept running if he had nothing to hide.

"Because he was chasing after me," said Tucker. "It's natural instinct."

To be fair, KVAL News called Safeway to get their side of the story and to see how they train their employees to respond to alleged shoplifters. None of the messages were returned.

Eugene Police said the case has been turned over to the Lane County District Attorney's office.