Prosecutors with the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office will not pursue charges against two Stockton 7-Eleven employees who were seen in a viral video assaulting a robbery suspect with a stick.
“The Stockton 7-11 Store Clerks are not and have never been suspects of the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office,” San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement. “Any investigation going forward is to hold accountable the individual who threatened and attempted to rob them.”
Police received reports at 3:41 a.m. on July 28 from a 7-Eleven employee that a suspect had entered the business, went behind the counter, and threatened to shoot the employee if he intervened.
The 7-Eleven is located on South Center Street across from the Stockton Police Department headquarters.
The suspect, identified by police as 42-year-old Tyrone Frazier, took several packs of cigarettes and other items and placed them in a large garbage bag before fleeing.
The next day, July 29, Frazier allegedly returned to the store for another robbery.
At 12:27 a.m. An employee reported to police that the same suspect had entered the business and demanded money. He allegedly had a handgun.
The employee did not comply with the requests, but Frazier allegedly grabbed several food items and placed them in a garbage bag before leaving the store.
During each theft, police said they arrived two minutes after receiving the reports, but the suspect was gone by the time officers got there.
Police said a third robbery occurred, but it was not reported to police. That robbery was caught in the viral video.
Beating goes viral
In the video, posted on Instagram, a man believed to be Frazier is seen wearing a blue face covering, pushing around a trash can while allegedly throwing countless items into the can.
A minute into the video, when the suspect begins to push the can away, a clerk is seen trying to stop him while another employee grabs a stick and beats the robber.
Repeatedly, the worker with the stick hits the man while the other worker holds him down.
“Ok! Ok!” yelled the robber between hits.
The person who recorded the video eventually can be heard telling the employees to let the suspect go.
Officers at 3:05 a.m. on July 29 met with Stockton firefighters at or near South Center and East Market streets to help a man asking for medical aid and who complained about pain to his leg and shoulder.
The man allegedly told authorities he didn’t know if he had been assaulted.
He was taken to a hospital for treatment and at the time police said they couldn’t confirm whether the man was the suspect in the string of robberies or a victim of an assault.
Police on Aug. 3 linked the suspect in the viral video with the man who had called for help from firefighters.
Frazier was ultimately detained on Aug. 7 in connection with vandalism and the 7-Eleven robberies.
Suspect appears in court
Frazier was arraigned in a San Joaquin County courthouse on Wednesday, wearing a red jumpsuit and shackled alongside other inmates while their rights to a trial were read to them in the courtroom.
However, when asked by Judge Ronald Northup if he understood his rights, Frazier responded that he had been asleep.
He is charged with six crimes in connection with three robberies at the 7-Eleven as well as the separate vandalism case.
In the middle of Judge Northup reading the charges, Frazier interrupted and said he didn’t want to talk anymore.
When the reading of the charges continued, Frazier looked around the courtroom several times, closed his eyes, and made limited eye contact with the judge.
During the arraignment Frazier was given a public defender but still blurted out that he wanted “a paid one.”
Frazier’s lawyer requested that his client be seen by behavioral health and a court doctor.
Frazier is set to appear in court on Sept. 5 and was not given bail.
Victoria Franco is a reporter based in Stockton covering San Joaquin County for Bay City News Foundation and its nonprofit news site Local News Matters. She is a Report for America corps member.
