(PatriotWise.com) — A Cobb County, Georgia, man has been accused of shoplifting, assault, and child abandonment in connection with a theft of merchandise at a Macy’s in Atlanta, WSB reported.
Cobb County Police identified the suspect in the December 26 incident as James Calvin Smith.
Smith allegedly stole more than $850 worth of merchandise from the Cumberland Mall Macy’s in Atlanta. A loss prevention officer approached Smith after observing him placing the stolen items in a backpack and attempting to leave without paying.
When the security director for the mall intervened, Smith allegedly got into an altercation with the loss prevention officer, in which he bit him before fleeing the scene.
According to Cobb County Police, Smith arrived in a rental car with his 11-year-old child, who stayed behind in the vehicle. When he fled the scene, he abandoned both the rental car and the child.
According to the arrest warrant, the child was “visibly shaken from the incident,” repeatedly telling officers that he was scared. Police remained with the vehicle waiting for Smith to return, but he never came back to check on his child. The child was placed in the custody of a “responsible adult,” the warrant stated.
Smith, who was still not in custody, faces charges of theft by shoplifting, battery, second-degree cruelty to children, and simple battery.
According to preliminary police data, while the rate of violent crimes in Atlanta fell by 18 percent in 2023, incidents of shoplifting increased by 22 percent, while car thefts skyrocketed by 61 percent, Fox 5 in Atlanta reported.
Atlanta homicides fell 22 percent compared to 2022, marking the first time the murder rate has dropped since the pandemic.
Rape fell by 49 percent, while aggravated assaults dropped by 16 percent.
Charles Rambo, a retired Lt. Commander with the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, told Fox 5 that if the only two crimes Atlanta has to contend with are car thefts and shoplifting, then public safety in Atlanta “is heading in the right direction.”
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