Holly MatkinBellevue, WA – Security footage captured the moment when a brazen thief trying to flee a Louis Vuitton store while carrying thousands of dollars’ worth of luxury handbags slammed into a window and knocked himself out cold (video below).
The failed heist resulted in the arrest of a 17-year-old male who prosecutors said is part of a notorious retail crime theft ring, KOMO reported.
Recently-released security footage showed the teen running across the showroom floor of the Louis Vuitton store in Bellevue in broad daylight.
He had multiple handbags in both hands, which police alleged he had ripped from the store’s displays, KOMO reported.
They had a cumulative value of $18,000.
“Brazen is the perfect word for it,” Bellevue Police Department (BPD) Captain Rob Spingler later told KOMO.
The teen was sprinting for the door when he suddenly slammed into a pane of glass and knocked himself out, the video showed.
The unconscious suspect collapsed to the floor and was quickly apprehended.
His identity was not released due to his age, but prosecutors said he is a member of a large-scale organized theft ring that includes career thief Earnetra Turner and convicted killer Billy Chambers, KOMO reported.
Capt. Spingler said the BPD has been working to curb the surge of retail theft cases that exploded last year.
Those efforts have resulted in a 52 percent drop in organized retail theft cases in 2022 versus 2021, KOMO reported.
“The message is, if you come to the City of Bellevue, you commit these crimes, we’re going to put together solid cases,” Capt. Spingler said.
“This is all data driven,” he added. “We use our accountability and transparency dashboard and we follow the crime wherever it goes and we’re going to continue it as long as we need to.”
Watch the incident unfold in the video below.
