Terminated Target employees contemplate lawsuit

REVERE – After three employees of Target on Furlong Drive were fired for trying to stop a shoplifter nearly two months ago, two of them plan on filing a lawsuit for wrongful termination.Lou Siracusa, 58, of East Boston, Joe Servizio, 31, of Beverly and a third man were fired Sept. 14 after they got into a physical altercation with a shoplifter nine days earlier.During the incident, which was previously reported in The Item, the suspect allegedly pushed a shopping carriage containing more than $1,000 worth of merchandise at Servizio, a store security guard, after being confronted.Servizio began to fight back, resulting in a brawl outside the store’s front entrance.In a store surveillance video, Servizio is seen pushing the carriage away before lifting the suspect into the air and throwing him on the ground at a 180-degree angle.The two men began fighting on the ground when Siracusa and a third employee rushed to help.”We were there protecting the store, the people, ourselves,” Siracusa said.Target management cited a rule prohibiting use of unreasonable force while detaining a shoplifter when the men were fired.”They said the apprehension was done recklessly and said it was my fault,” Servizio said. “They said, ‘You should have tried to disengage him.’ I said, ‘This guy attacked me.'”During the scuffle, Siracusa, who worked as a sales associate and has undergone multiple heart bypass surgeries, was bitten on the hand by the suspect, later identified as Matthew G. Citro, 27, of Chelsea. Citro also made repeated threats to kill the store employees and their families, according to Siracusa, Servizio and police.When police broke up the fight, Citro allegedly told them he’d just gotten out of a drug detoxification center two hours earlier and said he had hepatitis, according to Siracusa.But Citro refused to get tested to see if he actually has a disease, which is within his legal rights.”We’ve had officers get stuck with needles,” said Revere Police Capt. Dennis Collyer. “The suspect does not have to disclose their medical status. That’s the standard law, unfortunately.”Siracusa is particularly upset about the whole situation.”I’ve worked too hard all my life to go through this,” he said.Ever since he had a quadruple bypass, on top of others he’s undergone, Siracusa, a former bricklayer, has collected disability checks. He took the job at Target for $8 an hour to stay active.”It makes me feel better” to work at Target, he said. “I loved it there. They used to call me ‘Papa Lou’ on the walkie-talkie.”Siracusa must undergo testing every three weeks until March to find out if he contracted a disease, such as HIV or a form of Hepatitis, from the bite.Siracusa suffered a mild heart attack – his third – last week.Servizio, the former Target security guard, says force was used to detain shoplifters in the past and security guards were never disciplined.He said the real reason for their termination was because of Siracusa’s injury.”Now that Lou’s got hurt, it’s considered a liability,” Servizio said. “At no time was there unreasonable force used against this guy.”Target did not return repeated calls from The Item for comment.The pair’s attorney, Robert Boncorey, says he hasn’t filed a lawsuit yet, but is reviewing Target’s policies and a security tape of the incident in anticipation of doing so.Both men say they were model employees, who never had any problems with management until the incident. They also claim Target has a reputation for frequently terminating employees.”I’ve never been late, never called in sick,” Servizio said. “I’ve never had any type of problems.”Servizio says he planned a career with Target’s security firm, Asset Protection, and was only a couple classes away from obtaining a degree in criminal justice from North Shore Community College.”I was making alright money there and they were going to promote me,” he said.Now, Servizio is still looking for a full-time job in his field and in the meantime is doing temporary secu