When a group of four women tried to leave a beauty supply store in East Los Angeles with several stolen items in tow, their heist took a turn, authorities say.
One of the M Beauty in Commerce employees tried to block the entrance. That's when one of the women attacked the worker, grabbing her and violently throwing her to the ground outside the store, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The employee “fell headfirst to the ground and lost consciousness,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement about the incident last week.
However, it was not immediately clear from store surveillance footage when the woman lost consciousness. The video, reviewed by The Times, shows her fighting with a person who throws her to the ground, after which she gets up again before staggering and falling back to the asphalt, face up.
Surveillance footage from the M Beauty store in Commerce captured several people leaving the beauty store on March 6.
The 32-year-old employee is now fighting for her life, her family and boss said. The woman was not identified by her family, who said they feared for her safety but declined to give further details. She remained unconscious for days after the March 6 incident and suffered two heart attacks afterward, family members and her boss said.
“My daughter is in a delicate condition,” Enrique Sandoval, the employee's father, told The Times in Spanish. “She opens her eyes and moves them from side to side, but that's all.
“We are devastated,” he said. “Seeing my daughter in this situation, in this state, I almost want to go crazy, but I need to be strong to move forward. … May God help us get our daughter out of this.”
Sandoval said her daughter is currently in the intensive care unit, hooked up to a machine to help keep her heart beating. Her family has started a fundraiser for her medical care, which they expect will be extensive and will likely require a heart transplant. According to a report from KTLA-TV Channel 5, the woman had previous heart problems.
“It's very heartbreaking to see this happen to her,” said Daniel Min, who owns and runs the M Beauty store with his parents. He said she had worked at the store on Whittier Boulevard for about five years, earning the title of assistant manager.
Min said he didn't know why he decided to try to intervene with the thieves last week, but said that's not something that's expected of employees.
“I always tell them that their health and safety is a priority,” Min said. He said his teams had been ordered to tell anyone who stole that they were being recorded and would be reported to the police, but not to physically intervene.
But he said he understood it's difficult to watch robberies continue, seemingly without consequences, over and over again.
“She has been working with us for a long time; Even our employees get tired of all these people she steals,” Min said. “These people try to come in, grab a bunch of stuff and run away. … It happens everywhere and I feel like it's getting worse and worse.”
Sandoval said her daughter had urged the store to invest in more security, but Min said security guards also often can do little about such thefts.
However, after this incident, Min says he is looking to hire a security guard to ensure other employees feel safe.
“My daughter was telling me that she had told the owner that they needed some kind of security guard… before something worse happened,” Sandoval said. “The owners are good people, but that doesn't mean that she could have put a security guard there. Unfortunately, we are now in this situation.”
No one has been arrested in this case and the investigation is ongoing, according to the Sheriff's Department. The suspects drove away from the store in a white sedan and officials asked anyone with information to contact the East Los Angeles Sheriff's Station Detective Bureau at (323) 264-4151.
Sandoval was hopeful that those involved would be held accountable. He called his daughter a hard worker, both at work and on behalf of his family. He said she had always dreamed of being a mother.
“If anyone in the community knows anything or has seen anything related to this case, please notify the sheriff's office,” Sandoval said, noting that people have the option to remain anonymous. “My family would be grateful to anyone who came forward.”
