A former Safeway security guard said he was fired for giving deli sandwiches and chicken to San Francisco police officers who were shoplifting at the supermarket chain’s stores.

Oscar Santos Jr., a former loss prevention manager, claims in a lawsuit that Safeway falsely accused him of violating company policies after another employee reported leaving the store at the corner of Mission and 30th Streets with food from the deli counter in late 2023. The lawsuit was filed June 28 in San Francisco Superior Court.

Santos, 33, said he informed the company that the food was for police officers who were conducting a shoplifting operation and that management approved it. Santos said it was customary to give police officers chicken and deli sandwiches as a thank you, since the department did not charge the company for the undercover operations.

“My old boss said, ‘We’ll take care of them. Give them some sandwiches or something from the deli,'” Santos told The Standard. “That was something I was authorized to do.”

After his boss died, he was questioned by a new supervisor about the practice and then suspended, Santos said. Santos, who led organized retail crime investigations at Safeway stores from Fresno to the Oregon border, said the new director also told him he should never have handcuffed shoplifters; he claims he is exempt from that rule.

A few weeks later, Santos said, he received a letter informing him that he had been fired “due to a violation of company policies or procedures.”

He accuses the supermarket chain of wrongful termination and is demanding $20 million in punitive damages.