An Oregon man who said his ravenous hunger spurred him to steal food has sued a grocery store whose clerk allegedly attacked him during the heist.

Joshua Merkel seeks $10,000 to cover the medical expenses and mental anguish he claims was inflicted after he fled a Southwest Portland grocery store with a cart full of merchandise without paying two years ago.

The civil suit, filed last month in Multnomah County Circuit Court, comes months after Albertsons cashier Matthew “Deme” Cooper was found not guilty of second-degree assault in a criminal case stemming from the attack.

Prosecutors argued Cooper, now 31, had violently beaten the 45-year-old Merkel in a confrontation outside the store that was only partially captured on surveillance video.

“I understand I was committing a crime. I shouldn’t have done it, and it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been there, stealing and hungry,” Merkel testified during the criminal trial. “But it went way too far.”

[WATCH: Oregon shoplifter sues the grocery store that stopped him. Here’s what happened]

According to his testimony, Merkel had money in his pocket but never intended to pay when he loaded up his grocery cart at the Albertsons off Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway around 10 p.m. on March 4, 2024.

Cooper, the only worker on duty at that hour, tried to stop the thief by chasing him through the store’s parking lot.

Cooper’s arms swing wildly as Merkel abandons the shopping cart, the video shows. The extent of the fight isn’t depicted, but medical records introduced at trial show Merkel received treatment for a shattered jaw and black eye when he turned up at an E.R. a day later.

Cooper faced a mandatory punishment of nearly six years in prison but was acquitted in September.

Phone numbers for Merkel were disconnected, and his civil attorney, Mark W. Potter, didn’t respond to emailed questions. Neither did Albertsons.

Cooper was a bit player in the far-right street brawling group Patriot Prayer more than a half decade ago, and participated in an now infamous confrontation outside the aptly named Cider Riot bar in 2019. He also didn’t respond to a request for comment.

But a review of the civil litigation, courtroom testimony and trial exhibits pieces together a picture of how a run-of-the-mill shoplifting case quickly escalated into a retail battlefront.

Mac McKnight, a use-of-force expert and security guard trainer based in Portland, said the case exemplifies the “lose-lose” nature of confrontations between store staff and shoplifters.

“Generally speaking, we don’t recommend punching people to reclaim property,” McKnight said. “But if the stores just let stuff walk out the door, you’re going to shut the business down.”

Merkel’s theft at the Bridlemile neighborhood grocery store wasn’t notable for its daring or complexity. Yet it did take a bit of planning.

On the witness stand, Merkel said he asked his girlfriend to pick out anything she’d like as they perused the aisles. The duo ended up with lunch meat, salad dressing, some frozen corn dogs, enchiladas and a package of creme-filled cookies.

The girlfriend, Jennifer York, left the store and got back into her two-door Ford parked in a handicap spot near the entrance. After signing a prosecution immunity agreement, the 44-year-old testified she had no idea what was about to happen.

Merkel left without paying and had wheeled the shopping cart outside when he said a voice cried out, “I’m tired of you (expletive) stealing from my store!”

A surveillance video without audio shows Cooper, the cashier, chasing down Merkel and apparently landing a punch. As the rest of the assault unfolds offscreen, one bystander hops from foot to foot while another puts his hands to his forehead, as if in disbelief. The cart, unattended, clatters downhill.

In Merkel’s account, Cooper kicked the car door shut, “body slammed” the shoplifter to the ground and kicked him in the face at least five times. Merkel got to his car and his girlfriend drove off with him.

“I didn’t at all want to fight. I just wanted some food,” Merkel said in court.

Cooper didn’t testify, but an officer said Cooper called 911 that night and told police he had a “tug-of-war” over the cart while surging with adrenaline.

Merkel went to an emergency room the following evening, where doctors found he had a black eye and a fractured jaw.

During the criminal proceedings, Cooper’s defense attorney, Jason Steen, ripped into Merkel’s credibility and said the thief was nothing like Jean Valjean — the main character from “Les Misérables” who spends years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread.

Instead, the defender suggested Merkel’s true motivation was to trade some of the high-dollar items, including a pack of T-bone steaks, for methamphetamine.

“Here in Portland, we have a very good social network and safety net for people who are hungry or starving. Mr. Merkel wasn’t interested in all that,” Steen said. “He was starving for meth.”

(Merkel acknowledged using the drug off and on for about 10 years, but denied having any motive beyond obtaining food.)

Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Katherine Williams argued that Merkel wasn’t the one on trial, saying the assault had been proven by the surveillance footage and the testimony of two E.R. doctors.

“This is not a case about whether the victim is a good or a bad person,” Williams said. “This is a case about whether the defendant’s conduct is criminal.”

The jury needed less than two hours to deliberate and decide it was not.

Portland retailers have reported skyrocketing rates of shoplifting in recent years. Paradoxically, police say that might be a silver lining.

In 2020, city police took just under 3,000 larceny reports classified as shoplifting, according to the Police Bureau’s annual crime statistics data. In 2025, the number had jumped to more than 10,300.

A police spokesperson attributes the 240% increase to strengthened relationships between the bureau and loss prevention departments, noting that the biggest uptick came in 2023 after officers began accepting shoplifting reports online.

Shoplifting was likely undercounted during the pandemic, as police were often tied up responding to protests and a homicide spike, while frustrated retailers stopped reporting crimes they knew wouldn’t be investigated.

“(We’re seeing) better documentation, not necessarily increases in occurrence,” said the spokesperson, Terri Wallo Strauss. “Our officers encourage retailers to continue to report so we can see the trends.”

But an increase in shoplifting is hardly unadulterated good news, as retailers both big and small have closed up shop in recent years and blamed five-finger discounts for the decision.

McKnight, the use-of-force expert, says employees shouldn’t be trying to defend merchandise from shoplifters.

“If you can’t win, don’t go in,” McKnight said. “If your job is to check groceries, then check groceries. If there’s a need for security, then hire a professional.”

But shoplifting won’t be a going concern anymore for that Albertsons location. The company permanently closed its Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway store in July.

No court date has been set for Merkel’s lawsuit, though a clerk noted it is eligible for arbitration.

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