Man reported to police for stealing fuel, despite leaving Amherst store with a receipt

AMHERST — A local man who argued with a store employee Sunday about the price of propane was reported to police for stealing the fuel, despite leaving the store with a receipt. Kevin Patterson said he's been filling his propane tanks at Tractor Supply Company on Cooper Foster Park Road for years, so he was surprised when the price for two tanks rang up much higher than he expected. He questioned the price with the assistant manager, and proposed options, he said, including price matching, removing the propane from the tanks, or exchanging them for empty tanks and he would leave the store. The price rang up to $43 when he expected to pay about $25, what he was used to paying. Patterson said the conversation "did get heated — nobody was cussing or anything, but it was frustrating" — and the assistant manager walked away. "That's when the cashier said 'I'm sorry, I don't know why she is treating you like this, I'll give you a 15 percent discount' and I said 'Look, just charge me, thank you,' I pay for my two tanks and I leave," he said. Patterson was pulling in his driveway a little more than a mile away then the police called him, told him they had a report he had stolen from the store and needed him to come to the station to discuss the matter. Patterson was baffled by the incident — and disturbed. He explained to police he had a receipt for his purchase, offered to send screenshots or have the police visit his home to show them the proof, but declined to come to the station. "Any customer can negate a price, that's fair," Patterson said. "But they went above and beyond when they called the police after (I) just paid. They could have asked their cashier if they didn't know. She was just, I don't know, upset or what, but that's not right. It's not right. I told her several times, I think this is too high. I'm not going to steal your products, you can give me two empty tanks and I'll leave these right here. "I've never been a thief," Patterson said. "I have character and integrity. I'm a Mason. What am I doing wrong here?" Patterson said he tried calling the store to ask why he was turned into the police for a purchase he made and said he heard the cashier offer to pay the difference of the discount out of her pocket. He said he was put on hold for a while and then disconnected, while his wife, Eden Patterson, called the store and got through. Eden Patterson said the assistant manager was combative with her and adamantly refused to correct her mistake, to apologize to her husband, or sort out the matter with the police despite the receipt. The police report — and the store's manager — both acknowledge that police were not told Patterson was wrongly accused until the following day, despite the receipt that showed Patterson paid in full. By that time, the Pattersons had emailed Tractor Supply corporate about the matter and began posting pictures of the receipt on social media. "I don't want money. I don't want a gift card. I want an apology from that manager and I want the policy changed so this doesn't happen to someone else," Kevin Patterson said. "When you go to the gas station, you see how much you're pumping, you know how much you have, if you're getting close to that amount you can shut it off. The way it's set up you get a little slip of paper, it might say 'eight pounds of propane,' you go inside and ring out and you don't know what it might cost." At first, the Pattersons didn't get an apology. Store manager Trevor Rindflisch contacted Patterson early Monday to ask his side of the story. Rindflisch told the Chronicle he wasn't at the store when the assistant manager, only identified as "Ashley," said Patterson "got loud" with her, and that the cashier had offered the discount once Ashley walked away. "So Ashley came back and thought he left without paying for it and she decided that was a theft and she called the police," he said. "It should be noted that the witness statement was never completed nor returned" from the store employee along with the requested documentation and security video requested to the police department, the police report said. When contacted by The Chronicle about Patterson producing a receipt to police, Rindflisch said, "Again, I'm waiting to hear from the other party's side." The Pattersons have an idea why Kevin Patterson was reported to police. Kevin Patterson is Black and cuts an imposing figure. A store-level apology finally came Tuesday, when Rindflisch and Ashley called Patterson, but it was tempered when Patterson said she told him "you were standing over me." "I'm six foot five. I stand over everybody," he said. The Pattersons both work in Lorain, Kevin for the city of Lorain and Eden in the treasurer's office of the school district. Several of their friends and work colleagues said they heard his name and address over the scanner, sought for theft at Tractor Supply. The police report alternately states the employee accuses Patterson of leaving the store "without paying in full" and then goes on to say he left without paying "for the propane in one of the tanks." The dispute Patterson said management is blaming for the discrepancy — the 15 percent discount he was given — equals $5.92. In the winter of late 2019 or early 2020, Butch Lynch of Lorain also got a call from Amherst police after leaving Tractor Supply. It was the same situation: An employee turned in his license plate information to police and reported he had stolen merchandise, this time several bags of rock salt. Lynch had gone into the store and paid for them, then pulled up his pickup outside to load them. He, too, had his receipt — which he presented at the police department. He contacted corporate, and store management apologized and he was offered a $50 gift card. That manager has since retired and the matter was taken care of and Lynch, who is white, has continued to shop there, he said. Patterson, whose mother and wife are white, said he has never run into this kind of treatment before. "It felt degrading. It felt belittling. It's embarrassing. I'm a stand-up guy, and now my name is being brought up with theft?" he said. "I felt like I had beaten the stigma of being Black in America." On Wednesday, Tractor Supply District Manager Ethan Mayer called Kevin Patterson. He apologized for the assistant manager's actions, which he said were overblown for such a relatively small dispute that could have been easily resolved. "She cannot be treating folks like this. It's just not OK. We created this situation, every single bit of it. She cannot be doing this to customers," he said to Patterson. "It was very calming to hear someone from the store with an understanding for customers," Patterson said. Contact Rini Jeffers rinijeffers@gmail.com, Facebook.com/RiniJeffers and @RiniJeffers on Twitter.