$20M Lawsuit Filed Against Mall in Shoplifting Chase, Death

Hanover, MD — A $20 million lawsuit has been filed against a store manager and Arundel Mills mall security guards for reportedly chasing a suspected shoplifter into a retention pond where he drowned.

Tavon Talley, 26, of Baltimore died from accidental drowning in July 2014 in Hanover, Anne Arundel County Police say. An autopsy found no suspicious indicators, Patch previously reported.

Talley family filed the lawsuit against Valor Security Services and Mydatt Services in Baltimore City Circuit Court. Zumiez store manager Bethany Brafa of Glen Burnie is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

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Accounts on what happened during the chase vary.

Talley fled from mall security officers who were chasing him after the manager of the mall’s Zumiez store suspected him of stealing. Security officers said Talley entered the sediment pond and began to swim.

Although security staff urged the suspect to return to the pond’s bank, he would not do so, police reported in 2014. Talley appeared to dive head first into the pond, and he never resurfaced, police say.

But the lawsuit claims that Brafa and four security guards chased Talley through the mall’s parking lot and into nearby woods. They followed Talley to the retention pond, while yelling and threatening him, the Capital-Gazette reports.

His family claims that the mall employees failed to help Talley, who struggled and then slipped under the water. At that point they made jokes and called a supervisor instead of calling 911, the lawsuit says.

Rescuers found Talley’s body underwater near the middle of the pond about two hours later.

A woman who was with Talley at the time of the theft, Tania D. Turner of Baltimore, was charged with theft under $1,000 for her role in the shoplifting incident; the charge was later dropped.