An assault is an attempted battery. In the Walmart video you posted the Walmart employee is seen using his body to physically block the man attempting to enter. That could be considered an assault. It especially becomes an assault when the employee more than once moves in front of the elderly gentleman and makes contact with him. Further in the video the big idiot Walmart guy actually attempts to grab the arm of the man--- that is a battery. The man was only attempting to enter a retail store open to the public; he wasn't attempting to enter any off limits area like the stock room or the bookkeepers office.
SHOW me where Walmart allows their employees to use physical force to enforce their mask policy? I guarantee that they DON'T have that policy. IN FACT, I am almost 100% certain that Walmart doesn't permit employees to use physical force even with suspected shoplifters. The civil liabilities are not worth taking the chance. In most corporate retail stores today an employee will be TERMINATED if they use physical force. That includes physical intimidation (as seen in your video), or not allowing a person to move freely. Because ONCE a private person (not the same for cops) detains or otherwise prevents a customer from movement, that is actually an arrest by the store employee--- possibly including false imprisonment. Cops can detain you with reasonable suspicion. Private citizens CANNOT detain other citizens. They can arrest them (called private person's arrest) if they observed them commit a crime, but they have no legal right to detain anyone in anyway. Once a private person uses physical force or intimidation to detain another citizen, they have in effect arrested them and are now subject to a possible civil false arrest lawsuit.
Same thing when these stupid Walmart employees try to stop you at the exit to show your receipt. They can ask you, but they can't demand it. And if they block you--- then I would call the police and have them charged with false arrest and false imprisonment.
Besides all that, the elderly gentleman in the video you posted could be cognitively impaired or have another issue. Younger people can be that too---or on the autism spectrum. So some big stupid gorilla Walmart employee who thinks they are hired to act like defense linebacker needs to be fired when they act like the guy in the video you posted. If the employee feels a customer is violating a policy, then call the store manager to the scene. And if the store manager feels the customer needs to leave, and wants to claim the customer is now trespassing--- you call the police. Simple at that.
100% correct. He can ask the customer to comply with the mask policy, he may even have the authority to ask the customer to leave. But I know Walmart corporation is NOT delegating security detail to their low brow front door "greeters"-- that would be idiotic. Even if no crime is committed, even if no one is arrested, the possibility of physical injury and the lawsuits that will follow pretty much dictates the bottom line on this. DON'T touch a customer. DON'T use physical force or intimidation in anyway. Call the cops.