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Watch: Looters Raid Family Dollar While Police Are Initially Ordered To Stand Down

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Natural disasters bring out the best and the worst in humanity simultaneously. In Wilmington, North Carolina, Hurricane Florence definitely brought out the worst in some people.

According to WECT-TV, a closed Family Dollar store was looted on Saturday as police were initially ordered to stand down.

“While thousands of people struggle to overcome the damage left behind by Hurricane Florence, citizens in Wilmington broke into the closed Family Dollar Saturday on Greenfield Street to steal anything they could find,” WECT reported.

“A WECT reporter, Chelsea Donovan, arrived Friday to find dozens of people carrying items back to the public housing community Houston Moore.”

Several stations caught video of the event, which shows individuals carrying out crates of items and bringing them to the housing complex, which is across the street from the store.

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The doors, as you can see in this video from WECT-TV, were wide open.

https://youtu.be/TBJqOi1Lm8w

According to WECT, looters were wearing masks or articles of clothing over their faces to conceal their identity.

“When we came over the hill on Greenfield Street, you could just see people everywhere,” Donovan, the WECT reporter on the scene, said.

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Things got so crazy, Donovan was forced to seek safety inside their vehicle.

“I was concerned the whole time. I won’t lie, but I was there to get the story,” she said.

In spite of the fact that the looting was so widespread and that police were aware of the situation, a text from the police department indicates officers were ordered not to intervene at the request of the store’s management.

According to a further tweet from the police, they were in the process of identifying the looters.

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Wilmington police reported that they had arrested five people identified as looters just hours after the incident occurred. They encouraged others to report individuals if they see them in the video.

“We’re going to do everything we can to protect your property. This is not a response to the video. This has been our message (since) before the storm arrived,” police said.

Looting is always a concern when there’s a major incident like Hurricane Floridence that encourages people to disregard normal behavior. In the case of Florence, a curfew was also initiated for the affected area beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday and ending at 6 a.m. Sunday.

This, of course, is the ugly side of hurricanes. It oughtn’t distract from the bravery and selflessness we see much more often during tragedies like this. It’s still a sign, however, of why law enforcement remains a vital component of disaster preparedness.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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