NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — North Charleston Police say no charges will be brought against employees of the Andrews Market convenience store on Dorchester Road, after they were videoed in March assaulting an alleged shoplifter.
Spencer Pryor, public information officer for North Charleston Police, says NCPD is not pursuing charges because the store owners and employees acted within their rights to protect their business.
In the viral video posted to Facebook, store employees are shown holding the shoplifting suspect, 38-year-old Tyrone Mazyck, at gunpoint. They also have swords drawn.
According to a North Charleston Police incident report, Mazyck had a gash on his head when police arrived. Police also say Mazyck admitted he was trying to shoplift, and that there was a pocket knife in his bag (shop employees said Mazyck cut one of them).
Officers said Mazyck was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but not before threatening officers and store clerks.
In response to the video, the National Action Network later demanded the Andrews Market be closed, with Elder James Johnson calling it a "racial incident."
"They beat him with a stick in the store, like Sharia law," Elder Johnson said, before saying the store owners and employees should “go back to their country.”
NAN called for kidnapping and assault and battery charges against store employees.
Mazyck's said her son had been in trouble before, so the store's employees should have kept him out to prevent another incident.
"They let him back in that dog gone store knowing that he just came through here," she said. "So they should have just tell him he couldn't come back in their house. And they didn't."
North Charleston Police say Mazyck was advised he could pursue simple assault charges against the employees, but so far hasn't done that.