[symple_googlemap title=”Coffee Beach and Tea Leaf Burglary” location=”1590 Rosecrans Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA” height=”300″ zoom=”16″]
Manhattan Beach Police Thursday sought public help to find three people who tried to burglarize a business and who stole a cell phone from a female employee who was photographing their getaway.
The crime occurred about 4:20 a.m. Wednesday at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at 1590 Rosecrans Ave., said Officer Kristie Colombo of the Manhattan Beach Police Department.
Officers went to the business in response to a report of a burglary in progress “that was interrupted when a female employee was opening the store for business,” Colombo said.
“Two masked suspects used a sledgehammer and broke the glass door to the north side of the business,” Colombo said. “Once inside the business, the suspects kicked the office door to gain access and attempted to remove the safe.”
As the burglars were leaving the business, they encountered the female employee outside, Colombo said.
“She held up her cell phone and was possibly taking photographs or filming the suspects,” Colombo said. “One of the suspects ran to the employee … (and) punched her in the face causing her to fall to the ground.”
The suspect took her cell phone, and both suspects ran to a getaway vehicle occupied by a driver, and it sped off. The vehicle was described as a dark four-door SUV. No descriptions were available of the suspects, all three of whom wore masks and/or hoodies and had their hands covered.
The employee was treated at a hospital for a head injury and released. Aside from the employee’s cell phone, nothing appeared to have been stolen from the business, Colombo said.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call Manhattan Beach police at (310) 802-5171.
—City News Service