Shoplifter Tased After Threatening To Cut People With Blade: Cops

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — A Chicago woman threatened to cut Walmart employees and police with a blade after she was detained for shoplifting, prosecutors said. Linda McCurtis, 33, appeared before Cook County Judge Donald Havis on felony charges of aggravated assault and possession of a controlled substance. McCurtis is also facing misdemeanor charges of retail theft and aggravated assault.

The prosecutor said McCurtis was spotted around 2:15 p.m. May 27 taking 27 items valued at $258 from the Walmart Supercenter at 2500 W. 95th St. in Evergreen Park. She was detained by loss prevention officers. While witnesses were speaking to police outside the security office, the prosecutor said that McCurtis became irate. She allegedly pulled out a blade and threatened to “cut ya’ll.”

McCurtis approached police officers with the blade drawn, the prosecutor said. Officers said they were forced to use a Taser gun to subdue her. McCurtis was taken to a hospital for treatment, where the prosecutor said medical staff found a plastic bag with suspected heroin in McCurtis’s anus. When she woke up, McCurtis told police that she had no memory of threatening Walmart employees and officers with a blade because she had “taken a lot of heroin,” the prosecutor said.

She was released on a $10,000 I-bond with electronic monitoring while her case is pending. McCurtis is due back in court June 24 in Bridgeview.