Employees of walmart charged after shoplifter they restrained died.

Three employee of popular chain store Walmart have been charged after a shoplifter they tried to restrain died.  It was the middle of the night on Feb. 7, at a Florida Walmart Supercenter, when a man attempted to steal $380.74 worth of DVDs, police said. According to Washington Post.

Pushing a shopping cart stacked high with them, the man tried to leave the store, but when employees noticed  and then confronted him  the man ran, police said, tugging at his falling pants along the way.

At some point, the man fell, the initial police report says, and three Walmart employees detained him.

Twelve hours later, the man, identified by Lakeland police as Kenneth E. Wisham, was dead.

Reports from police at the time hinted at a medical mystery that had overtaken the 64-year-old, who stopped breathing while he was being detained. Wisham never regained consciousness, despite life-saving efforts at Walmart and the hospital, and was pronounced dead later that afternoon.

Two days later, the Polk County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy.

The cause of death, officials determined, was mechanical asphyxia by restraint, meaning his airway was suppressed during a struggle.

Wisham also had 15 broken ribs.

Nearly seven months after Wisham died, Lakeland police issued arrest warrants for three people last week, all employees of Walmart. They face one charge each of manslaughter. The two men and one woman — Nathan Higgins, 35; Randall Tomko, 58; and Crucelis Nunez, 23 — were taken into custody on Friday.

Photo: Nathan Higgins, Crucelis Nunez, Randall Tomko. (Polk County Jail)