Portland police guard grocery store dumpsters as people seek discarded food after power outage

[left-of-center2012]

Roughly a dozen Oregon police officers faced off with a small group at a Northeast Portland Fred Meyer grocery story on Tuesday after people tried to take food that had been thrown away. Workers at the Hollywood West Fred Meyer threw away thousands of perishable items because the store, like many others, had lost power in an outage brought on by the region’s winter storm.

Images on social media showed mountains of packaged meat, cheese and juice, as well as whole turkeys and racks of ribs that had been tossed into two large dumpsters near the store. A few people gathered about 2:30 p.m. at the store in hopes of salvaging the food. But within a few hours, people seeking food from the dumpsters began to report police officers showing up to guard the dumpsters and prevent people from taking items.

Morgan Mckniff, a resident of the neighborhood, said employees were guarding the dumpsters when people showed up to get some of the discarded food. Mckniff began to film the employees and said staff members threatened to call the police on them for doing so. The store manager called police shortly thereafter, Mckniff said, and Mckniff began livestreaming the interaction on Instagram. “After that, other people started showing up and asking them, ‘Why are you guys guarding a dumpster?’” Mckniff said. Mckniff said about 15 people eventually gathered in an attempt to collect food. At that point, Mckniff said, a dozen officers arrived at the scene.

Neither Portland police nor the store’s spokesperson responded to requests for comment. An employee from the store said they couldn’t comment. The run-in came as the region reeled from a winter storm that brought on widespread power outages that left many people unable to salvage perishable items in their refrigerators.

https://www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2021/02/portland-police-guard-grocery-store-dumpsters-as-people-seek-discarded-food-after-power-outage.html

[apcalc]

1. This is stupid

Let the people have what food they can get.

[Faux pas]

2. Kickin' with disgust!

Are we really that cruel? The hump has released the inhumanes.

[dsc]

3. Sadly, there is some reason for a store to be wary of letting people dumpster dive

if a person gets sick after doing so, the store can be sued. I have to admit, I would likely turn off any security camera and keep employees away and just claim ignorance and hope for the best for at least the first few hours.

[gratuitous]

5. That's the reason exactly

As terrible as the episode is, it would be far worse to have people get really sick or die from consuming tainted food, and the store's liability would be counted in the millions of dollars.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. PrOtEcTiNg AnD sErViNg

[Thunderbeast]

6. The temperature NEVER got above 38 degrees outside!

Kroger has killed Fred Meyer.

Back in the day, Fred and Eve Meyer would have been at the door handing out food.

https://images.app.goo.gl/oUBKkAEtYtnPzGev9

[rickyhall]

7. Capitalism