MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Security cameras captured three women wearing bikinis attacking the manager of the Beach Outlet Store Sunday night after witnesses said they stole merchandise and he ran after them.
Mourad Chaabi was just sitting down, working at the front of the store when he said the women began acting suspicious, so the manager stood near them.
"She was like, 'Oh, you want to watch me now? Well, watch me now.' And she just grabbed three sweaters and the guy just basically ran after them and in the middle of the street," Chaabi said.
The store manager, Rafaela Kalvron, said he tried to be polite to the women.
"They just grabbed two or three of those with the prices on and everything and took it out of the store. So, of course, I cannot do anything, so I asked her nicely, 'please just give the stuff back from the store,' and they start to throw the punches," Kalvron said. "I stepped back and said, 'Please, I don't want to hurt a woman. Just give me the stuff back."
Merchandise flew through the air as the women repeatedly struck the store manager.
"We watched this whole altercation in the street underneath the light and fighting and yelling, and a car almost hit one of the girls. It was just unbelievable," another witness, Paul Thomas, said.
Thomas, who lives in Miami Beach, was with friends when they saw the incident unfold.
He later posted about it on his Facebook page.
"This is not OK. This is my community," he said. "I've been living here for a while now and I love South Beach, and it's not OK to come to our community and do this crazy stuff. You can come and have a good time without committing crimes, you know."
Sherbrooke Hotel owner Mitch Novick said his security cameras captured the attack, which he posted to the "Residents for a safe Ocean Drive" Facebook page.
"These incidents happen every day throughout the day," Novick said. "This entire neighborhood, the entire Ocean Drive entertainment district has spiraled into what I consider slum and blight."
Miami Beach police are not investigating the incident because they said the store manager did not want to press charges against the women.
"I hope they learn. They are young girls. I don't want to see anybody got to jail," Kalvron said.
Kalvron said he has seen a spike in thefts at the store.