A woman caught on security footage urinating on a bin of potatoes at a Pennsylvania Walmart turned herself in Tuesday afternoon after the police posted images of her on their website.
Grace Brown, 20, identified herself to the West Mifflin Borough Police Department after police contacted her in connection with the event. The Allegheny County DA’s office has recommended Brown be charged with criminal mischief, open lewdness, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness, according to KDKA, a local CBS channel. (The news site states that charges have not yet been filed.) Concerns over the contamination of food in stores are taken seriously by law enforcement, but in this case it appears that Brown will not be charged with tampering with food.
According to a press release from the police department, an employee saw urine on the floor of the produce section and notified a Walmart Loss Prevention officer. The Walmart officer then watched surveillance footage and notified police of the incident.
Police Chief Anthony Topolnak says that in the surveillance video, “she completes her business, gets up, and walks out.” There is no report that Brown bought anything at the store — she appears to have entered, urinated, and left. You say ‘potato,’ she says ‘pee-tato.’
This event follows last month’s viral story of a Texan woman opening and licking a container of Blue Bell ice cream before putting it back. According to KDKA, Walmart has released a statement explaining that “the safety of our customers is a top priority for us.” They called Brown’s actions “obscene” and “outrageous” and assured customers that they “immediately disposed of the affected products and sanitized the area to ensure its cleanliness and safety for our customers.”
When asked whether this kind of incident has happened before, Topolnak replied, “Someone urinating on produce? No, not that I’m aware of.”
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