In this Occupy Wall Street era, it was a crime against the 1 percent: Two people grabbed a handful of purses worth more than $10,00o Saturday night in the Nordstrom store in Walnut Creek and sprinted for the exit.
But they wouldn't get far. A pair of holiday shoppers braved blasts of pepper spray from one of the alleged thieves before subduing him until police arrived.
The net result: Nearly all of the approximately 17 high-end purses were recovered, the suspect was jailed, and the unnamed interveners walked away with minor injuries.
Police are still seeking the second alleged bandit, a woman who escaped with a couple of the bags into a waiting getaway car.
"You've got to admire people who step up and help out in this way," Walnut Creek police Lt. Steve Gorski said Sunday. "We don't recommend that people do this, though. We'd much rather they give us a good description."
Police said Bryan Black, a 42-year-old parolee from Oakland, entered the Nordstrom at 8:37 p.m. with his female accomplice, snatching as many purses as they could carry.
As Black ran toward the door, one shopper grabbed his arm and tried to slow him down, but Black got away after dousing him with pepper spray, police said.
Other passers-by saw the commotion and rushed to help, police said, with a second shopper tackling Black - who was also carrying a knife and burglary tools.
Black fired pepper spray again, police said, but the tackler held firm, punching Black in the face a couple of times and detaining him until store security and Walnut Creek police arrived.
Black was treated at a hospital before being sent to jail, where he was booked on suspicion of robbery, burglary, assault, possession of stolen property and possession of burglary tools.
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