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Video of Little Boy in Walmart Brawl

Published June 9, 2015

Two videos captured on 4 June 2015 at a Walmart store in Beech Grove, Indiana, depict a fight between two women — and alongside one brawler, a small boy.

On 5 June 2015, a set of two videos depicting a fight at a Walmart store in Beach Grove, Indiana, were uploaded to YouTube. The videos, embedded below in chronological order, were titled "Beech Grove Walmart fight part 1" and "Beech Grove Walmart fight part 2" and attracted viewers on social media not only by depicting two women exchanging punches in the shampoo aisle of a Walmart store, but also by capturing the assertive involvement of a young boy and the confusion of (and lack of intervention by) adult bystanders present:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZkhyF1lw2s

As bystanders debate whether or not to intervene (including an off-screen female shopper who warns the child he'll be sent to "little boy jail"), the boy makes several comments to an unseen crowd of adults:

“You can’t tell me to stop! Do not even tell me what to do!” “I don’t care! I’m protecting my mom. I don’t play!” “I’m not playing right now!” “What did you call her?”

Rebecca Mills, seen in the video cruising the store on a motorized scooter, had become upset with one of the Walmart employees for leaving carts filled with merchandise in the aisle. The employee was restocking the shelves for the following day and was using the carts to move products.

Amber Stephenson, 34 Amber Stephenson, 34 (Photo: Brian Marye) As things escalated between Mills and the employee, Stephenson, who allegedly "came out of nowhere" with her 6-year-old son, stops in the aisle and comments to Mills, "You must really hate your life."

Stephenson then continues on, but returns minutes later to confront Mills again.

Then what begins as verbal shots traded between the two shoppers intensifies into a fist fight and wrestling match in the aisle.

According to investigators, the fight started when Amber Stephenson (the woman with the child) heard Rebecca Mills (the woman on the motorized cart) use a racial slur in reference to a store employee:

Rebecca Mills, seen in the video cruising the store on a motorized scooter, had become upset with one of the Walmart employees for leaving carts filled with merchandise in the aisle. The employee was restocking the shelves for the following day and was using the carts to move products.

As things escalated between Mills and the employee, Stephenson, who allegedly "came out of nowhere" with her 6-year-old son, stops in the aisle and comments to Mills, "You must really hate your life."

Stephenson then continues on, but returns minutes later to confront Mills again.

Then what begins as verbal shots traded between the two shoppers intensifies into a fist fight and wrestling match in the aisle.

Amber Stephenson called the Smiley Morning Show on WZPL to talk about the fight. Amber told the hosts she was in Walmart when she heard a woman in a motorized scooter call an employee the "n-word":

"(The woman) was sitting there yelling at an employee at Walmart, and she was telling her that she was a (expletive) and that she was going to get out of the chair and whoop her (expletive)," the woman said.

“She used the ‘n-word?'” the host asked.

“Yes, she used the ‘n-word,'” the woman said. “So in my defense, I was standing up for the employee.”

During the fight, she said no one stepped in, not Walmart employees, bystanders or security.

“I don’t blame Walmart employees for not intervening. But as far as security, if you go to any other Walmart fight video, security is right there trying to break it up, help them.”

The Walmart employee, Audrey Thomas, told police she was restocking shelves when Mills struck her cart and yelled at her to move the carts. Thomas spoke with another employee about moving the carts when Mills became angry and yelled again. Thomas said Stephenson confronted Mills about yelling at the employees, and also that Stephenson told Mills she didn't need a motorized cart. At that point, Thomas said, they began fighting.

Stephenson told Mills, "If you're going to kick someone's ass, try kicking mine."

What happened next was caught on video. Mills gets out of her motorized cart and approaches Stephenson, and the two begin fighting. Stephenson said she was defending herself. She also says Mills pushed her six-year-old son during the fight, causing him to fall to the ground. According to Stephenson, her son put shampoo on Mills to get her to stop fighting.

Stephenson also said that her son was "raised perfectly right" and that he reacted as he did in part because of his martial arts training:

“My son takes martial arts classes. He’s been going to the gym for several years with his father. I mean, he’s been in the gym for a long time,” she said. “He got a little crazy. I don’t have to worry about him ever being bullied.”

She described the boy as a straight-A, honor roll student and teacher’s pet. She said his martial arts teachers have taught him not to back down.

“My son is raised perfectly right. My son is perfectly well taken care of.”

A Walmart spokesman maintained that no one at the store stepped in because company policy prohibits employees from intervening in violent situations, and store security officers were just coming on duty as the fight occurred. The company also said that neither woman was welcome back at Walmart:

This type of behavior inside one of our stores is completely unacceptable and we are notifying the individuals involved that they are no longer welcome on Walmart property. Once we were aware of this situation, a member of our management immediately called the police and we are continuing to work with them on this matter.

Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley noted that this particular Walmart store has long been a problem for local law enforcement and declared it a "public nuisance":

“I make no bones about it. I consider Walmart a public nuisance. And that’s based on the number of times that we go down there every day. We’re down there at least four to six times every single day on petty theft matters the police have to deal with,” Buckley said.

City officials recently passed a nuisance ordinance, which police said would apply to the excessive police activity at Walmart.

Beech Grove police figures detail their activity at the store:

789 police runs from February of 2014 to December of 2014 486 runs from January of 2015 to now 472 arrests from February of 2014 to now

Deputy Chief Michael Maurice said Walmart runs typically require two officers, and sometimes that leaves the department short-staffed to cover other duties.

A week after videos of the WalMart fight incident were posted online, Indianpolis station WTHR reported that criminal charges had been filed against Amber Stephenson:

Charges were filed against Amber Stephenson for neglect of a dependent and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

But Stephenson's not in hot water for the blows she delivered to Mills, it's for ordering her son to "punch (Mills) in her face ... punch her in her (expletive) face."

During the skirmish, the child can be seen hitting and kicking Mills in the face and head, court documents state. The child then picks up a shampoo bottle and begins hitting Mills in the face with it.

Stephenson's contributing to the delinquency of a minor charge is only a misdemeanor, but the neglect of a dependent charge is a felony and could lead to jail time if she's convicted.

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.

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