A Home Depot employee was fired after helping police stop a kidnapping in process.
"At the time, the only thing I was thinking of was the child's safety," Dillon Reagan told KGW.
Reagan, who had worked at the store four years, was finishing a shift in the tool-rental department May 12 when a co-worker yelled to him as an altercation in the parking lot was happening.
“I stepped outside and sure enough, there’s this lady whose frantic and crying, ‘Somebody help me please. He’s stealing my kid, he’s kidnapping my child,’” Reagan said.
Reagan and the co-worker left the store, called police and went outside. Dispatchers told them to follow the man on foot, which they did, for three blocks until police arrived.
They were back at the store 10 minutes later.
Reagan said he was chastised almost immediately by his supervisor.
“He said, ‘You did the wrong thing. You should have just gone back to work,’” Reagan said. “It was still the right thing to do,” Reagan said. “I was kind of in a catch-22 situation, I’m damned if I do, damned if I don't.
Reagan was fired June 19.
"You were fired because you assisted the police in preventing a kidnapping," the store wrote in a letter to Reagan June 29. "This was not a willful or wantonly negligent violation of the standards of behavior an employer has the right to expect of an employee."
The store issued a statement Wednesday regarding Reagan's dismissal:
"This was a very complex situation, so we're taking another look at the decision. We always want to be certain that we're treating any associate fairly," Home Depot said.
The store gave another statement Wednesday evening:
“We took a second look at this and have let Mr. Reagan know that we’ve decided to reverse our decision, based on the circumstances. We always do our diligence to make sure associates are treated fairly, which we’ve done in this case.”
Reagan said he would not go back.
“We should be doing the right thing regardless of what company policy is, regardless of what the consequence is,” Reagan said. “What's good and what's right, supersedes what's policy and what's orders. Hands down.”
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