Autistic Man’s ‘Acting Odd’ Lands Him In Jail - Whole Foods Intolerant

Blake Wimberly lives in the dark, gripped by paranoia.

The 28-year-old hides inside his small Dallas apartment because of fear that police will arrest him wherever he goes.

“I see a cop right there, so that tells me that I should not be going outside not for nothing.”

Wimberly is both autistic and schizophrenic, so he struggles with self-control.

Despite his condition, Blake has progressed enough to live on his own. But his mother, Lori Lux, says a trip to a grocery store started a downward spiral. “I see a man who has shut down,” she said.

The incident happened on April 28 at a Whole Foods store on Park Lane.

Police reports say Blake was ‘acting odd,’ leading to customer complaints.

dfw.cbslocal.com... him-in-jail/

First of all, him living in fear gripped by paranoia - well that could be any ATS'er!

But....

SHAME ON YOU Whole Foods! To call the police because an obviously autistic man is acting "odd"?!?!? No kidding he is acting "odd", he is AUTISTIC!

This whole story is heartbreaking (especially because I have a severly disabled and autistic son).

When are companies like Whole Foods going to start holding themselves to a standard that is even marginally acceptable?

Here you have Whole Foods - a company who capitalizes on natural ingredients... a company who publicizes information about how artificial ingredients contribute to autism... But, don't actually send one of those autistic people into one of their stores! God forbid!

I guess to Whole Foods, the disabled are good enough to make a buck off of, but not to actually have to deal with!

Police reports say Blake was ‘acting odd,’ leading to customer complaints.

Ummm... Why are you upset with whole foods? Be upset with the police in this case. If I observed a guy actin erratically in a store I would call the cops too. Especially if I was management and customers were complaining/frightened. What do you want them to do, hold his hand? Proper response by the company, improper response by the police.

Also, to deride an entire company based on the actions of one person.

Originally posted by Domo1

Police reports say Blake was ‘acting odd,’ leading to customer complaints.

Ummm... Why are you upset with whole foods? Be upset with the police in this case. If I observed a guy actin erratically in a store I would call the cops too. Especially if I was management and customers were complaining/frightened. What do you want them to do, hold his hand? Proper response by the company, improper response by the police.

Also, to deride an entire company based on the actions of one person.

I am also upset with the police. But I am upset with the police in general anyway.

I am mostly disappointed in Whole Foods - somewhere I regularily shopped. They have a huge push going for how natural foods help with autism and they can't handle 1 autistic customer.

My money is apparently good to them. My son apparently isn't.

reply to post by LearnedToPlayNice


I don't really know what you expect them to do. Train the employees on how to deal with people with severe mental problems? It's not their responsibility. The police dropped the ball on this one but Whole Foods acted appropriately. If you disagree, please tell me what you think the manager ( just assuming ) should have done differently.

In a statement, Whole Foods defended the store’s actions, saying Blake was quote, “Running up and down the aisles and repeatedly going into areas of the store that are employee-only.”

I used to do loss prevention and if I had seen that I would have IMMEDIATELY trespassed the person and called the police. You don't know what you're dealing with. Frankly, I don't think this guy should be living alone.

whenever i get the urge to pay $7.00 for an organic dinner roll i go to whole foods.

i'd like to see sean penn and the rest of hollywood boycott whole foods in a stand against autism.

that'll be the day. then they'd forced to shop with the common people.

on a side note, their sausages taste like vomit, and the class of the majority of people who shop at whole foods is just about as repulsive.

it's surreal to see a bunch of people with sandles and socks taking 1 hour and 45 minutes to buy eggs.

I've got to agree with Domo1 on this one.

If I saw a guy is running up and down the isles of a supermarket and acting odd and I was with a wife or small child, my first thoughts wouldn't be to look for identification necklaces or wrist bracelets on the guy doing the running.

My first thoughts would be protection of my family first, and hopefully let the store deal with the situation.

What if the store hadn't called police and things had gotten out of hand?

EDIT

Yes I agree the amount of time in detention was appalling, but that was police not the supermarket.

reply to post by randomname

it's surreal to see a bunch of people with sandles and socks taking 1 hour and 45 minutes to buy eggs.

I still think it is pathetic that Whole Foods sells you this bill of goods about how due to the fact that the foods are all natural, they contain none of the chemicals, food additives and preservatives that some research has linked to Autism - yet they can't deal with a single Autistic person.

It is kind of like Whole Foods making the claim that their food can help you walk again and then not dealing with the people in wheelchairs that show up.... you know.... call the police when they are all acting odd because they just insist on sitting there and won't get up and walk.

If you target advertise a specific segment of the population, you best be prepared to contend with that specific segment of the population.

reply to post by persecutedunfairly


It should be no shock to anyone hofu is not what it's cracked up to be. It is a corporation that is concerned about the bottom line, period. All the propaganda to the contrary is meaningless. Yes, I worked there for years and found out the hard way.

It's a tough call about the man and his behavior in the store...they didn't seem to have many options.

Originally posted by persecutedunfairly
I still think it is pathetic that Whole Foods sells you this bill of goods about how due to the fact that the foods are all natural, they contain none of the chemicals, food additives and preservatives that some research has linked to Autism - yet they can't deal with a single Autistic person.

It is kind of like Whole Foods making the claim that their food can help you walk again and then not dealing with the people in wheelchairs that show up.... you know.... call the police when they are all acting odd because they just insist on sitting there and won't get up and walk.

If you target advertise a specific segment of the population, you best be prepared to contend with that specific segment of the population.

So how do you know he was autistic? How are the Police supposed to know he's autistic? If you were there WOULD YOU KNOW if he was autistic? Should he have to wear a sign around his neck advertising that? Whole Foods did the right thing in calling the police. The police did the right thing in apprehending him and removing him from the store. From what I read, he wasn't beaten, he wasn't Tasered, he was just put in a police car and taken to the police station.

There are always people looking to bash stores like Whole Foods and Walmart. I have to wonder if the fact that both stores are not UNION stores might have something to do with this?

There are always people looking to bash stores like Whole Foods and Walmart. I have to wonder if the fact that both stores are not UNION stores might have something to do with this?

I'll help you out... it has nothing to do with the union/non-union issue. Whole Foods sells a lifestyle; rich people who have a conscience and want to support socially responsible, "fair trade" practices can shop there and feel good about themselves. It's a smokescreen. It's business. They don't live up to many of their talking points, for example, buying produce locally is touted to make people think they get most of the produce from local growers-which they cannot. It's impossible, so I'd say 80% is imported from other states, countries. A lot of their frozen food is from China. Prices are way higher than everywhere else, even the same product. I won't go on, but it's kind of like Wal-Mart in reverse. Everybody knows they exploit the 3rd world all to hell, I think hofu does also, but their propaganda is way more sophisticated and aimed at higher income folks.