An Instacart shopper is under police investigation after it was alleged that she ran over an elderly couple’s groceries after spotting a pro police sign on their lawn.
On December 6 the couple got their delivery from Cub Foods and went outside to meet the driver who shouted at them to check in their wreath for a message, KSTP reported.
“It says Instacart doesn’t pay employees, find another slave, f*** the police, racist, pigs,” Brian Podany, Chief of Police for the Blaine Police Department, said.
Now the driver may not comprehend that “slaves” do not volunteer for those jobs nor do they get tipped but common sense is not common.
The couple said that they found their groceries run over in their driveway, a relative of the couple explained on Facebook.
“Today two of my elderly relatives were victims of a hateful act. Targeted because of a small yard sign supporting their local police department,” the relative said.
“This morning they made an Instacart grocery purchase to be delivered to their door. Nothing crazy. Just a couple of bags worth. They received the usual notifications; Tara is shopping, Tara is on her way, Tara is in your neighborhood,” she said.
“Worried that Tara might struggle in their un-shoveled driveway, they rushed out to meet her. As they opened the door they heard Tara screaming for them to check inside their Christmas wreath. It also seemed that she was stuck in the driveway, rocking the car back and forth to get free? Seeing no groceries anywhere they checked the wreath. To their utter disbelief they found a hateful note crudely scribbled on a random receipt. In harsh bold marker it read, ‘Instacart doesn’t pay employees sry find another slave f*** the police racist pigs’. A short time later they discovered their groceries in the driveway, casualties of Tara’s hateful act. She wasn’t stuck after all, she was running their groceries over,” the relative said
“Tara probably doesn’t know how carefully those $50 in groceries were budgeted for. Or how devastating the recent medical diagnosis has been. Or how scared and vulnerable her vile act of hatred made them feel,” she said.
The relative updated the post several times to say that there was a large outpouring of support and that Instacart “has taken this very seriously and have assured us that Tara will no longer be working for them.”
The police said that Instacart gave the couple a full refund and that the driver has been identified and charges are “likely in the near future.”
The 36-year-old suspect “is not cooperating with us, if you can believe that,” Chief Brian Podany said.
“It’s unfortunate something like this would happen, particularly at this time of year,” the chief said.
“This is the holiday season, and we should be taking care of each other. We are in law enforcement, we get that not everyone likes us, but don’t take that out on innocent people out there,” he said.
Instacart said it was “appalled by the unacceptable actions of this shopper, who has been removed from the Instacart platform as a result.”
“We’ve been in direct contact with the customers to refund their order and provide additional resources,” it said. “We’ll continue to provide support to the impacted customers and will also work directly with local law enforcement on any investigations into this matter.”
