Local

Grandma: Disabled boy yelled at by Edgewood Kmart employees for 'destroying store'

EDGEWOOD, Pa. — A local grandmother said she's outraged by the way her disabled grandson was treated in an Edgewood Kmart store.

Earlier this week, Linda Barclay said she, her grandson Brandon, who has muscular dystrophy, and his aide were in the Edgewood Towne Center store.  Barclay said since the boy's wheelchair is heavy and she uses a small car, they usually use the store-supplied wheelchairs when shopping.

Barclay said as the 10-year-old was navigating through the store, he accidentally hit a table with the chair. That's when she said store employees screamed at Brandon and demanded he get out of the wheelchair.

“She never bothered to ask us if he needed the chair, she just assumed he was playing in the chair,” said Barclay.

Barclay said she tried explaining the boy's situation to employees and is upset with how they were treated.

"I let them know that he does have a disability, he does need that chair and if they touched him there would be a problem. She had gotten very aggressive," said Barclay.

Kimberly Freely, spokeswoman for Sears Holdings Corporation, which owns Kmart, released a statement to Channel 11 News on Friday.

Freely wrote, "We welcome and embrace all shoppers and associates who have special needs and strive to make working and shopping in our stores a positive experience.  It is unfortunate that an incident may have occurred at the Edgewood Town Center.  We have reviewed our policies and procedures again with our associates."

Freely went on to say, "I would also like to point out that Kmart has a long history of working with children with special needs including our partnerships with St. Jude and March of Dimes."