I am shocked and appalled at the reactions in this thread.
No, you absolutely do not take his chips! What you should do is contact Support (usually
support@pokerroom.com) and let them know there is a tournament with a player sitting out and that his chips are in serious danger of being taken unlawfully.
Support will then proceed to pause the tournament and forward your email to the Accounts department. They will pick up the phone and call the player to find out what the reason is for his/her absence.
If they can't get the person on the phone they have the option to patch into the police dispatch and send out a patrol car to do a welfare check on this individual. The officers will locate the person, take him/her to the station and get to the bottom of the sitting-out issue. Was it intentional? What is the chip-damage? Does the person want to file a missing chips report?
Once the situation is cleared up you will be informed by Accounts. If the amount of chips lost is recovered, then you will most likely receive an award for your heroism as an upstanding citizen on the Internet. A prize is usually awarded too. Last time I received an award, I got 3 freeroll tickets worth $0 dollars.
At this point the tournament will be resumed, although when this happens (usually 2-3 days later), everybody else is sitting out too.
I hope this answers your question. :fight: