Crime & Safety
Four Young Teens Arrested for Alleged Ralphs Shoplifting
Police say two boys and two girls were "uncooperative and hostile" during a shoplifting incident Tuesday at a Ralphs market in Costa Mesa.
Two boys and two girls described by police as uncooperative and hostile were arrested in a shoplifting incident at a Ralphs market that turned violent Tuesday.
The first officer to arrive at the market at 380 E. 17th St. around 2:30 p.m. saw a boy and a girl fighting with Ralphs security employees near a cash register, said Lt. Greg Scott of the Costa Mesa Police Department.
The officer physically separated the girl from a group of employees and handcuffed her. As she was sitting, a second girl crept up behind the police officer and forcibly tried to remove his handgun.
An off-duty sheriff's deputy who happened to be in the store assisted the Costa Mesa officer by physically restraining the girl who had just tried to take his weapon.
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The officer then grabbed one of the male suspects who punched the officer in the face. A second Costa Mesa officer arrived and both officers wrestled the combative male suspect to the ground. Other officers arrived and a fourth male juvenile suspect was taken into custody.
One officer had a bruise and a cut below his right eye. He received stitches at Hoag Hospital and was released.
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The suspects had allegedly tried to steal liquor from the market. They were a 15-year-old Costa Mesa girl, a 16-year-old girl from Costa Mesa, a 15- year-old boy from Costa Mesa and a 14-year-old boy from Newport Beach. Their names were not released because of their ages.
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