A Minneapolis Instacart driver ran over an elderly couple’s groceries after seeing a pro-police sign in their front yard and wrote a crude message on a receipt branding them as ‘racist’ and saying ‘f*** the police.’
A 36-year-old driver from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, who only went by Tara on the app, reportedly ran over $50 worth of groceries in an angry fit over a sign the couple had in their driveway.
A bottle of soda, what appears to be coffee creamer, a bag of bananas and other items can be seen in the photo which police posted to Facebook on Monday.
Tara has since been relieved of her position at Instacart, but it wasn’t immediately clear if Tara was the driver’s real name or what type of charges the suspect is facing.
The sign read ‘Thank you Blaine PD’ and donned a Blue Lives Matter flag – a symbol of police support – in the shape of a heart.
Instead of the groceries from Cub Foods that the couple had ordered on December 6, Tara left a derogatory message scribbled on a ‘random receipt’ on the couple’s front porch.
‘Instacart doesn’t pay employees. Sry [sic] find another slave. F*** the police,’ the hateful message read, which also had the words ‘racist’ and ‘pigs’ written on it in black marker.
A relative, Amber Gray, wrote on a GoFundMe: ‘My heart breaks for my loves ones,’ and detailed how the act left them feeling ‘vulnerable’.
Instacart released a statement saying it was ‘appalled by the unacceptable actions of this shopper, who has been removed from the Instacart platform as a result.’
A Minneapolis Instacart driver ran over an elderly couple’s $50 worth of groceries (pictures) in an angry fit over a sign the couple had in their driveway
Pictured: The pro-police sign in the elderly couple’s front yard that angered Tara enough to run over their groceries
Tara left a hateful message in the Christmas wreath hanging from the couple’s front door and branded them as ‘racist’
The elderly couple’s loved ones shared a screenshot of their receipt from Cub Foods, which showed a picture of Tara, who has since been removed from the platform. Police said Tara is 36 and from Coon Rapids, Minnesota
‘We’ll continue to provide support to the impacted customers and will also work directly with local law enforcement on any investigations into this matter,’ it added.
According to a listing on Indeed, the average annual salary for a personal shopper with Instacart in Minneapolis is $47,000, which is based on aggregated data. Delivery drivers in the city reportedly make $65,000 per year.
In a press release posted to the Blaine Police Department’s Facebook page on Monday, the elderly couple reported on December 6 that when they received the notification from the Instacart app that the driver was at their house, they went outside to pick up their groceries ‘due to the amount of snow in their driveway’.
‘When the couple opened the front door, the delivery driver yelled back at them to check inside of their Christmas wreath,’ which is where they found the receipt inscribed with the bitter note.
‘They also reported the driver was driving back and forth in the driveway…. After the delivery driver left they found that their groceries had been run over in the driveway,’ the press release stated.
The elderly couple reportedly told Instacart what happened and received a full refund for their order.
A grocery fund set up by the couple’s loved ones on GoFundMe three days after the incident has already accumulated nearly $8,500 – far exceeding the $500 goal.
‘Tara probably doesn’t know hoe carefully those $50 in groceries were budgeted for. Or how devastating the recent medical diagnosis has been. Or how scared and vulnerable her vile act of hatred made them feel,’ Amber Gray, one of the fundraiser organizers, wrote.
Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany (pictured) said that he understood the suspect’s discontent towards law enforcement but told Fox 9 that they shouldn’t have taken it out on ‘innocent people out there, especially people who are trying to contribute to this person’s livelihood’
In an update posted on Tuesday, Gray called the 197 donations a ‘Christmas miracle’. It is unclear what her relationship is to the elderly couple.
The police department added in the press release: ‘The delivery driver has been identified and the investigation continues with charges likely in the near future.’
Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany told Fox 9: ‘We’re law enforcement. We get not everybody likes us, we understand that. But don’t take that out on innocent people out there, especially people who are trying to contribute to this person’s livelihood.’