Walked outside with unpaid groceries ... stopped to examine propane tanks outside as his girlfriend pulled the car up next to him so he could compare the tanks outside to tanks in the car ... uh huh ... sure.
It sounds as if Safeway punted when they (a) lost the guy, and (b) discovered that their LP guy tried to physically detain the suspect unsuccessfully. managers probably decided that since they did not have the guy they could not meet their own internal policy for reporting the incident as an attempted or completed theft and decided to drop THAT complaint.
Not sure that case helps the OP's "friend" in any way, though, since it seems that the friend was caught and arrested.

