At 6:30pm on Monday evening (8/31/2026) at the Dollar General at 1475 Route 9d in Wappingers Falls, a male employee was surrounded by men in tan vests that said POLICE on them, handcuffed him, and took him to a vehicle waiting outside in the parking lot, according to witnesses who were shopping inside at the time.

“At first I thought the store was being robbed,” one witness told A Little Beacon Blog. “I was looking at the Halloween decor that just arrived, when I heard someone behind me at the cash register say ‘Be still. We won’t hurt you.’ When I turned around to look at the cash register, at least three men had surrounded a person who they were pushing up against the counter, and were putting handcuffs on him. One of the white men wearing a tan vest that said POLICE on it had short brown hair in a nice clipped style, and a clean face, no beard.”

The witness continued: “I hid behind an isle, but no one else seemed concerned. Everyone kept shopping. Everything was pretty quiet. The guy they put into handcuffs didn’t say anything, and the men’s voices were low. I assumed the man was robbing the store and that the cashier pressed a panic button. Next thing I knew, they had all left the store.”

After the men left, one employee who had been standing in the sliding door to rotate stock on shelves told the cashier that the men were in their cars and had “calmed down a little” if the cashier wanted to go question them. The cashier then went outside to question the men who took the employee. “It turns out,” the witness continued, “the man they took was an employee of the store, and this was his second time in the store that day to shop as a customer. The employees were surprised that he was taken in handcuffs after he paid for his things.”

Another witness confirmed to ALBB that police officers in traditional uniform were also there, in addition to the men in vests. Not confirmed was if the police officers in traditional uniform were apprehending the man, or were waiting outside. Witnesses who saw the men said they were not wearing face masks. ALBB asked a store manager if the men identified which law enforcement agency they were with, and the manager answered that they could not answer that question. When asked if anyone identified themselves as ICE, the manager replied: “No comment.”

One witness said that several vehicles were parked outside, including a van and a Jeep, though they did not confirm what type of Jeep. They said that men ran into the store from both the left and the right directions. They ran past someone standing in the doorway of Dollar General and said “Get the fuck out of the way.”

After the incident, a bewildered customer said: “They WANTED him!” Everything resumed as usual, the witness said.