Roseville Best Buy employee who was fired for tackling fleeing suspect will get his job back

A Best Buy employee in Roseville, who was fired for chasing down and tackling a suspect who was fleeing law enforcement, will be offered his job back, according to Best Buy.

The incident happened Jan. 11 as Placer County Sheriff’s deputies located 35-year-old Timothy Trujillo of Reno, who was wanted for multiple burglaries.

Surveillance video of the incident posted to social media appears to show at least one officer struggling with Trujillo, who then tried to run away. A Best Buy employee, wearing a yellow jacket, chased Trujillo down and tackled him near a curb in the store’s parking lot.

“We made a decision to terminate our employee for violating our clear policies but have had reason to take another look at what happened,” said Best Buy in an emailed statement Monday evening. “In the end, we understand he made a split-second decision to do what he thought was right and, while we wish he hadn’t put himself or anyone else at risk, we regret our initial decision and will be offering him his job back.”

The employee, Tyler, who asked that his last name not be used to limit social media attention that may affect his career, told The Bee on Monday that he knew he was breaking a company policy, but did not expect the punishment to be termination.

“I stand by it. I think it was the right thing,” he said. “My supervisors didn’t even see it happen. ... I told them I was probably going to get in some sort of trouble for it.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2019 at 7:31 PM.