Tragic: Man dies after trying to stop thieves from stealing Starbucks tip jar

Roger Kreutz, 54, died two days after he was run over outside a St.Louis-area Starbucks by thieves who took off with a tip jar containing $5.20. "It's so useless," says the victim's father. "It's insane what these people do." A $20,000 reward has been posted -- half by Starbucks and half by an anonymous donor. (Read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch story)

Comments

[sbuxnewbie]

Man!

Tips just aren't worth that!

We keep telling everyone, if the tip jar gets grabbed, get a description and call the police but DON'T try to stop the thief!

this man's heart was in the right place, but I'd rather have a customer like him in the cafe,than yo have to remember what a great person he was.

[mpwalker]

wow, that breaks my heart to hear about that, and for five bucks. The flipside is how these two kids lives have changed forever. Having robbed a store (in return, enough money to buy some double-cheeseburgers), killed a man, and running from the law.

[Mary Mocha]

Its heartbreakingly sad...he was trying to help out the partners who had treated him so well. These kids who stole the tips have now ruined several lives all over a couple bucks. My heart goes out to the partners in that store and all the victims' families.

[Zipy]

Thats terrible... Those monsters.

I hope they get caught.

That is just so terrible, though, and all that for $5.

Roger was a great guy and it breaks my heart that this senseless tragedy ever took place.

[seventysix [76]]

My condolences go out to the victim's family. May Roger rest in peace.

[SoyBeanGirl]

All this for a stinking $5? Damn. If this happened at my store, I would donate as much as I could to help fund the reward. And do something in his memory.

*takes off her sbux hat and bows head*

Everybody, raise your coffee mugs and pour some out for our homie, Roger.

[stlshift]

my husband knew this guy from outside of starbucks. terrible tragedy and i hope someone (a family member or friend who recognizes the people from the video on tv!) turns these people in.

Pitchforks? -CHECK
Torches? -CHECK
Angry Crowd? - CHECK

LETS GO GET US A MONSTER! (or two!)

Seriously, couple of jerks!

[jabanga]

the photo looks very clear. i can't imagine they won't be caught.

[HopkinsBella]

This is awful. I also will tip my coffee to Roger, tonight.

[HopkinsBella]

And I apparently lost my ability to pick the correct verb. I will *raise* my cup of coffee to Roger, too. Sorry.

[Allie]

"Paillou urged the young couple who ran over Kreutz to turn themselves in. "There's two sides to every story. We need to talk to the suspects," Paillou said."

There's two sides to every story... HAH! Yeah right! No self-respecting thief would A)rob a starbucks tip jar, or B) rob a starbucks tip jar filled with $5.20. These two are either complete idiots, or addicted to drugs and needed more money for their crack.

[RainGrlBarista]

I was very surprised when I saw this tragic event on the local evening news tonight. My thoughts, condolenses and prayers go out to Roger (who died while trying to do the right thing) , his family & friends and to all my fellow SBUX partners of that store. I work in a Kansas City, MO area store. Our store has only been open since mid-July 2007. In the 8 months since our store's opening, we had our tip jars stolen at least 5times (that I know of presently.) We have STRESSED to all partners within the store (plus district wide) the importance of safety FIRST and FOREMOST. But if it's a customer (especially a regular customer)who witnesses a theft like this.....what CAN WE do (besides getting a description and calling 911?) I know that I would just try to stay calm, look after my partners & customers and utilize common sense (whether I am behind the counter or on the other side of the counter.) I just hope that everybody can learn something from this senseless tragedy. Plus let everybody heal and become stronger from it all.

Do these two tip stealers deserve 10 to 20 years? Oh yeah.

Wow! Just this morning a partner was telling me how a police officer pulled into our parking lot JUST as our own tip-jar thief had escaped down our drive thru lane. Apparently the cop came back an hour later with the offender in hand, our tip jar money in an evidence bag, and made the kid appologise and promise never to do it again.
Seriously- the tip jar thieving issue in drive thru doesnt get enough focus! I rely on that money for my weekly groceries!!!!

[Darleen]

How tragic, I hope they find the two people who did this. What a sorry thing to do for 5 dollars. RIP Roger and may God look over your family in this time of sorrow.

[Bubka Penus]

This is sad. I hope they catch the thieves and run them over. People like this ruin so many things for others. Tip jars need to be re visited. Perhaps bolted with a key to get in them. I have seen the ones with the key but not bolted. Just a thought

Remove all tip jars from the stores!

[Jeff]

Roger happened to be good friend of mine. He had some physical limitations so jumping out of the way probably wasn't an option.

Had he survived, I would have told him how stupid he was, but now I don't have the opportunity to have the friendly banter we used to share.

Very, very sad.

My heart goes out to his family. Tragic.

[bayareabarista]

this really makes me sad... my prayers go out to the family and all the partners at the store

It's a tragedy, and I think the perpetrators deserve jail time, but I really don't think those kids went into Starbucks intending on killing anybody. They just wanted some money for crack or something. It was a misdemeanor crime that now has unfortunately turned into manslaughter.

[Kat]

This is terrible! All over a tip jar too. Poor man, I feel sad for his family. I hope they catch who did this.

We cut the bottom of our tip jar so if anyone tries to take it they wouldn't get anything. Sometimes coins slip out onto the counter but it keeps the tips safe.
This is truly tragic and my thoughts go out to his family.

[Eric]

If you're dumb, you die. If you are willing to risk life and limb for a tip jar - you're dumb.

Eric,
Do you honestly think that Roger chased after these kids thinking he was risking his life?
They were unarmed teenagers. He had no reason to believe they would run him over.
It's unbelievably insensitive of you to make such a rude comment. Try keeping your mouth shut.

[Waltie]

I agree that Eric is insensitive. But I also agree that chasing after tip-stealers, while well intentioned, isn't very smart. But I don't agree that that means you deserved to die.

[Imperabo]

If everone in the world always did the smart thing instead of the right thing most of us would be slaves.

They caught them!!!

[Chantal]

This is tragic, yet it brings up some good points that I think should be stressed for all Starbucks employees.

First and foremost, if someone steals your tips (or robs you, for that matter) DO NOT RESIST OR TRY TO PLAY HERO, no matter how innocent they may seem. If anyone in my area remembers a few months back two 17-year olds were shoplifting from a national department store, were approached by Loss Prevention, and shot him nearly ending his life.

It is just not worth it. One should not risk their life trying to be a hero. You can always make more tips. You can't get a life back once it has been ended.

And as hard as this is for you Starbucks employees (and anyone else in a similar predicament) to do (because that is YOUR money that is being stolen from right in front of you) let them walk and make a note of what they are wearing, hair and eye color, complexion, gender, height, weight, and any other information you can gather, pull the security tapes (if you have them - my favorite store doesn't even have cameras!) and call the non-emergency number for the local law enforcement entity.

Raingirlbarista, stealing a tip jar is not a 9-1-1 situation. 9-1-1 should be used for emergencies. Emergencies are situations where there is a threat to life or limb, not a few bucks stolen. Use the non-emergency number (all jurisdictions have them) and keep the 9-1-1 lines clear for real emergencies.

[baristagirl]

what the hell is wrong with kids these days?! it never fails to amaze me when people steal our tip jars. i can see if they were packed with bills, but over 5 freaking bucks?! and then to run a person over with your car who is trying to stop you?! these kids HAD to be on drugs! There's no other reason to risk jailtime for 5 bucks and then to kill the only witness to your petty theft. plus, if they needed the 5 dollars that goddamned bad then the chick shouldn't have bought a freaking drink! crap like this just pisses me off. i get angry when people steal our tips but to kill someone over our tips is the absolute limit! stupid teenagers!

[christine]

First of all i am terribly grieved this man lost his life. My perspective regarding this situation is no loss of life is worth any amount of money.
This man didn't just die over five bucks this man died because he had integrity. It was because of integrity that he couldn't look the other way...because he knew in his heart that the act of stealing is wrong, regardless of the amount.
Just another view point.

[Alvin]

Tip jars should be banned. No self-respecting establishment would allow the employees to shame customers out of money.
A tip jar is just another excuse for an employer to pay less wages.

[Ajlouny]

It's horrible that he had to die over something something so simple and useless. It's honorable of him to try to stop injustice, but his heroism cost him his life.

[CrowdedCranium]

I find it astounding in the degree of stupidity that this 19 year old Robbery Homicide asswipe recieved a year. There were two, that was conspiracy. They planned and executed a bait and switch robbery then executed vehicular homicide to elude capture.

Now next year what will they do for a thrill?

[Waltie]

"Tip jars should be banned. No self-respecting establishment would allow the employees to shame customers out of money. "

Believe it or not, but some people actually want to give servers tips. Even if the tip jars were taken away, lots of customers would want to tip us anyway. Having a jar just makes it more convenient for those customers who want to tip, and allows us to share them equally with all of the people on staff.