Two Women arrested at Walgreens

Two people accused of shoplifting a Walgreens tried to fight their way out after the manager caught them, leading to a scuffle between them and five other employees before the women were subdued, police officers there said.

By 4:40 p.m. Friday, the employees at the Eighth Street Walgreens, 801 Maple Ave., locked Vanessa Soto and Amanda Garcia in a back office until an officer came to arrest them. When he tried to put on the cuffs though, they clawed at him too until they were again subdued and taken away, Sgt. Rick Smith said.

Soto, 27, and Garcia, 26, of 1403 and 1305 N. Muskingum Ave., were both charged with robbery, assault on a public servant and resisting arrest, Smith said. Bond has not yet been set for either of them by 9:30 p.m. Friday as they were booked in the Ector County Detention Center.

Smith said the two women were not cooperating with officers since they were arrested.

According to the accounts the police gathered from the employees, the two women came into the store and tried to sneak out $160 in cosmetic supplies. The store's manager observed them as tried to leave the store and attempted to stop them near the entrance.

"Walgreens employees tried to detain them and they took to swinging," Smith said.

Several of the employees suffered minor cuts and scratches from the scuffle but no one was seriously hurt. No property damage was reported.

Eight patrol cars, including one unmarked, filled the front parking lot until 6 p.m. The store remained open even as the two women suspected of the robbery sat in the back of separate patrol cars parked there.

An assistant store manager there said neither she nor the manager would comment on the incident, only adding "he's (the manager's) had a bad day."