MASON CITY, IA (RNN) - A handicapped man was denied the use of a store-owned electric cart and forced to walk out of the establishment on his hands and knees.
The incident occurred at Mills Fleet Farm on Monday.
Customer Shane Zahn said that he was told he couldn't ride the electric cart into the store's parking lot, despite his handicap.
A Facebook post that shows Zahn leaving the store has accrued more than 20,000 Reactions and almost 5 million views.
“After I got out of the store, right in front of the door I was told I was not allowed to take the wheelchair out into the parking lot, and I said 'Huh?' I said 'I’ve done this before.' She said 'The wheel chair is to not be out, it needs to come back in.' I said 'What am I supposed to do, crawl out of the store?'" Zahn said.
Zahn said he immediately returned the goods he bought and crawled out of the store.
“This is in no way reflects the Mills values and principles in how we treat our customers,” said Wayne Sales, Chief Operation Officer with Mills Fleet Farm.
Sales said that the judgment call was a bad one.
“We have policies and guidelines, primarily for the protection of our customers in terms of incidents that may happen when using electric carts in our parking lots, but in no way will we ever have a policy or treat our customers and deny them access to the carts as it appears in this situation,” Sales said.
Zahn said he hopes his experience will prevent future issues at Fleet Farms.
“Like I said, I hope that it never happens to anybody else. I hope they change their policy; some of us can't help it. We can't help we've had problems in our lives,” Zahn said.
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