ManitobaA man is suing a Winnipeg grocer and some of his staff, alleging they left him concussed with fractures to his skull and permanent hearing and vision impairment after finding him outside the store trying to steal a car last year.Lawsuit against Dino’s Grocery Mart alleges staff beat up Michael Prince amid February 2024 car theft attemptBryce Hoye · CBC News · Posted: Aug 29, 2025 12:42 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoMichael Prince, 36, alleges in a statement of claim that staff at Dino’s Grocery Mart on Isabel Street used excessive force in an assault on him as he was trying to steal a car from outside the food store in February 2024. (Ron Dhaliwal/CBC)A man is suing a Winnipeg grocer and some of his staff, alleging they left him concussed with fractures to his skull and permanent hearing and vision impairment after finding him outside the store trying to steal a car last year.Michael Prince, 36, is seeking damages in a lawsuit against Dino’s Food Mart, manager Rajan Varma and eight unnamed staff of the Isabel Street food store, says a statement of claim filed in Court of King’s Bench Aug. 12.”As a result of the assault and the resulting injuries, including vertigo and nerve damage, Prince says he is unable to seek and maintain employment,” the lawsuit says. “He suffers from constant fear, anxiety, apprehensiveness, depression and feelings of worthlessness as a result.”Prince admits he stole a jacket from Dino’s on Feb. 26, 2024, that contained a wallet and key fob. He went to his Bannatyne Avenue home before returning half an hour later to use the key fob to steal a car parked outside the store.He entered the car, which was boxed in by other vehicles, and that set off the alarm.Prince said the car door was then opened by a group of eight or nine male and female employees of Dino’s, including Varma, “who punched, kicked and hit him repeatedly,” the statement of claim says, and he was also assaulted with a hammer.”The amount of force used against him was far in excess of what was necessary to execute a citizen’s arrest or detain him pending the arrival of law enforcement,” the lawsuit says.Trail of bloodPrince said he doesn’t remember how he got away from the scene, but he recalls running toward his Bannatyne home.He then realized he was bleeding from the blows to the head, which he attributes to the use of a hammer, the lawsuit says.Some of the staff followed a trail of blood to his home, the statement of claim says, but there was no further interaction. His brother called 911 after Prince arrived at home.He was taken to hospital, arrested upon release about 24 hours later and charged with theft before being detained, the lawsuit says.About a month later, Winnipeg police visited him at Headingley Correctional Centre to take his statement about the assault. Const. Claude Chancy confirmed police did investigate. Crown prosecutors didn’t authorize charges against Varma or his staff, a statement from Chancy said.Prince says he suffered hairline skull fractures, a concussion, permanent hearing impairment in both ears, vision impairment in his right eye, migraines, vertigo, insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks, nerve damage, brain swelling, post-traumatic stress disorder and other symptoms.He is seeking a variety of damages related to these injuries and associated legal and medical expenses.Prince’s lawyer Phillip Cramer and Varma both declined to comment.ABOUT THE AUTHORBryce Hoye is a multi-platform journalist with a background in wildlife biology. He has worked for CBC Manitoba for over a decade with stints producing at CBC’s Quirks & Quarks and Front Burner. He was a 2024-25 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. He is also Prairie rep for outCBC. He has won a national Radio Television Digital News Association award for a 2017 feature on the history of the fur trade, and a 2023 Prairie region award for an audio documentary about a Chinese-Canadian father passing down his love for hockey to the next generation of Asian Canadians.Selected storiesEmail: bryce.hoye@cbc.caFacebookMore by Bryce Hoye
Man sues Winnipeg grocer alleging ‘egregious assault’ by staff as he tried to steal car outside store
