A SHOPPER has argued that they were in the right by not stopping when an off-duty cop requested to see their receipt after using self-checkout.

In Kansas City, Kansas, customer Dayton Borisouth claimed he bought a pizza for $5 without issue earlier this month and took his receipt to leave the store.

On his way out, Borisouth said he was stopped by a Walmart security guard and off-duty cop for the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department (KCKPD), per local Fox affiliate WDAF.

“He said, ‘Got your receipt?’” the shopper recalled in an interview with the outlet.

“And I said, ‘Yes,’ and I continued to walk. As I stepped through that door, he pins me up against the claw machine and brick wall, and he said, ‘You didn’t pay for that.'”

Borisouth said that he informed the officer that the receipt was in his pocket and that he didn’t “have the right” to detain him.

What happened next was filmed and posted on social media, as three officers stepped in to place Borisouth flat on his stomach.

One could be heard in the clip threatening to break Borisouth’s nose, while another placed his knee on the shopper’s neck for a total of seven seconds.

Borisouth explained that he was taken outside to a police car to be arrested and booked, but the officers only then allegedly realized he’d paid for the pizza, not stolen it.

A KCKPD spokesperson confirmed to WDAF that the officer who stopped Borisouth and the other who placed his knee on the shopper’s neck were disciplined and are set to undergo more training.

The department added that the first officer “should have disengaged” when Borisouth refused to show his receipt.

The second officer’s method of stopping the shopper was also not approved of or taught by the KCKPD, according to what the spokesperson told the outlet.

Even so, the video of the altercation went viral, causing controversy and questions about the legality of stopping customers and checking their receipts.

Attorney Kate Corwin said that shoppers are “never” required to show a receipt to an employee or security guard who might stop them at Walmart or any other retailer.

“You never have to show your receipt,” Corwin noted while speaking with WDAF.

“But it may be beneficial to do so, whether that be self-checkout or whether that be an actual person checking you out.”

However, security who have probable cause at Walmart and some other retailers could still detain shoppers suspected of theft, according to the attorney.

“If they have enough probable cause, or reasonable suspicion to believe that you’re shoplifting, then they can detain you for a reasonable amount of time to reasonably investigate,” she said.

With retailers like Costco or Sam’s Club, the situation could be different given the terms of their membership agreements.

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Corwin advised shoppers to refrain from using self-checkout most of the time to avoid any troubles with being accused of retail theft.

“It’s personal preference, just know that you might be more singled-out, you might be more targeted as someone who maybe has something that they haven’t paid for if you do, do the self-checkout,” the attorney said.

“Just because you’re not going to have a cashier right there to verify, that yes, I ran this over myself.”

She continued: “Because you’re not interacting with a human and you’re not looking at a person who is actually going through and scanning your items, you might have a little bit more of a risk of giving rise to the probable cause — that reasonable suspicion, that something’s in your car that shouldn’t be or that hasn’t been paid for.”

As The U.S. Sun previously reported, several other lawyers and retail experts have echoed a similar sentiment to Corwin.

Attorney Aaron Marks told shoppers in a recent TikTok that it’s more complicated than meets the eye, as different states and cities have varying rules about the right to stop customers and check receipts.

“Each state has its own laws and there is a doctrine called shopkeeper’s privilege. Now that doctrine applies differently in every state,” Marks said.

“The general principle is that, when you’re on the premises of a store, they have the right to ask you questions and they have the right to ask you to show them the receipt.”

He also repeated the same information as Corwin about detainment being allowed if there’s probable cause.

“So they have the right to use force while detaining you?” he said.

“No, they don’t. Can they jump on you and knock you down? No, they can’t.”

The officers who stopped Borisouth could have either not known this legal stipulation or ignored it.

The U.S. Sun has contacted Walmart for further comment on Borisouth’s situation.

Supermarket Guru website creator Phil Lempert also stressed that self-checkouts should often be avoided to prevent conflict over alleged theft.

He recently advised that shoppers with 14 items or more refrain from ever using self-checkout due to the possibility of accidental miss-scans or mistakes that could lead to retail theft suspicions.

“It is so easy to make a mistake on these machines,” he explained in a conversation with Inside Edition.

“People have a full shopping cart, they’re putting it in, they forget to scan something, or the machine just doesn’t work.”

He added: “If you make a mistake unintentionally, hey, you could be arrested.”

For more related content, check out The U.S. Sun’s coverage of the “special law” shoppers must know when they show a receipt after using self-checkout.

The U.S. Sun also has the story of a customer who accused Walmart of treating them like a thief and threatened to “call cops” on employees.