CEDAR HILLS — Four Layton Walmart employees fired after disarming a gunman caught shoplifting aren't the only Utah Walmart workers who intervened in an escalating situation and lost their jobs.

James Dallin, an assistant manager with 10 years of experience with Walmart, was fired Jan. 4 after separating a worker from an angry husband on Black Friday in November at the store in Cedar Hills.

Dallin said Thursday he was violently shoved from behind. Then, he said the husband went after his wife — Dallin's co-worker.

"Flung her, right away, verbally started abusing her," Dallin said.

The man grabbed the woman hard by the arm and berated her as he escorted her down an aisle. Minutes later, the man still had a firm grip on his co-worker's arm and was continuing to verbally abuse her when Dallin said he pushed the man into a shelf and told him to leave, then escorted him out of the store.

The man complained, and six weeks later, Dallin was fired for violating Walmart's policy on "workplace violence."

"The thing I have a problem with is you have to react," Dallin said.

Dallin believes his case and the case of the Layton workers raises questions about security inside Walmart.

"I think the public should be concerned," Dallin said. "If I'm a shopper at Cedar Hills or I'm a shopper at the Layton Walmart, I'm certainly concerned. It's something that needs to be addressed."

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