Meijer big box retailer under fire for arresting young autistic employee who stole food

A Midwest retail giant is under bipartisan fire for calling the police on a 19-year-old autistic deli worker who also just happens to be a thief.

The incident at a Michigan Meijer store actually occurred on March 7th of LAST YEAR but has just now gone viral on social media.

The incident involved James Denison, a 19-year-old autistic deli worker who stole $110 of food over a 3-month period, according to MLive.com.

Watch the full bodycam footage of his arrest here (X is mysteriously not allowing the video to be embedded), or watch a snippet below:

BREAKING – Americans are calling for a boycott of the retailer Meijer after bodycam footage revealed the $15 billion corporation had a 16-year-old disabled deli worker named James arrested for taking just $110 in food over three months to get through his shifts.

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/Zh7MPP6Fj6

— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) August 19, 2025

Denison openly admitted in the video to stealing food during his break with the intention to later pay it back.

“It started off slow,” he said. “It happened a couple of times because, like, I forgot my wallet or something, and then I meant to pay it, and then when I had my wallet the following day I either just forgot or I didn’t know who to talk to.”

According to Upworthy, he specifically ate fruit cups and cooked chicken from a bin containing items that were going to be thrown away. Moreover, his managers were aware of his thefts but quietly allowed it until he’d eaten over $100 worth of food. Only then did they call the police.

Denison was ultimately arrested on charges of minor theft and later released with a generous $0 bond.

With footage of his arrest having gone viral, a boycott has now erupted, with critics blasting Meijer for forcing Denison to go through the process of being arrested, fingerprinted, and booked.

Look (*Language warning):

#boycottmeijer

— Weimar Republican (@ddtexas2025) August 21, 2025

All @meijer had to do was either fire the kid at first instance or help the kid. Instead they acted like assholes and showed they have zero compassion. I even heard that #boycottmeijer was trending earlier.

— tweetitarian (@thematthew26) August 21, 2025

@meijer “Neighbors helping neighbors, honored to serve our communities” That’s your motto? That’s how you treated a hungry autistic kid, because you’re serving your communities? Fuck you. Fuck your grocery stores. And fuck corporate greed.#boycottmeijer

— Paul Liapis (@PaulLiapis) August 21, 2025

@meijer disgusting what your manager did to a disabled kid who wasn’t making enough of a living wage and had to literally eat out of your trash!!! Keeping track in order to call the police instead of talking and finding out about why?! Fire that guy immediately #boycottmeijer

— David Patterson (@BigDaveKC) August 21, 2025

Imagine being 16, disabled, and hungry. You take food from the trash at work. Your manager watches for months, waiting until it “adds up” to $110… then calls the cops. That’s what @meijer did. A $15B company chose humiliation over humanity. We can do better…#BoycottMeijer

— Leviathan (@_OldHeartFalls_) August 21, 2025

Meijer has, for its part, bent the knee to the bipartisan outrage mob.

“We take this very seriously and recognize that the situation should have been handled differently,” the company said in a statement. “Earlier this year, we implemented a new procedure to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“We’ve learned a great deal of experience. We hold ourselves to a higher standard and are committed to making sure our actions reflect how we want to treat each other,” the statement continued.

But there are critics who say that Meijer did nothing wrong and was completely in the right to pursue Denison’s arrest. Critics also argue that the arrest on a minor, minor, minor charge will teach him a good lesson.

They were not discarded item. He knew better. Stealing is wrong! He just learned a valuable life lesson.

— The Arch (@KevinArchuleta6) August 20, 2025

Good on Meijer. Kid needs to learn a lesson about stealing. I need to make sure I shop at Meijer next time I’m in the midwest.

— DannyCanTalk (@dannycantalk) August 20, 2025

The responses are nuts. Meijer isn’t ruining the kids life, they’re teaching him a valuable lesson. Do honest work and don’t steal from your employer. He’s a juvenile, kids make mistakes, and if nobody teaches them it’s wrong they won’t learn from those mistakes.

— Thomas Goss (@ThomasG055) August 20, 2025

Senior Staff Writer
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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