Store Owner Muscles Burglary Suspect

It was the purse that did her in.

A Long Beach woman accused of stealing clothes from a Seal Beach store escaped, but when she returned for her forgotten handbag, and Maced store owners, she got detained by the temporarily blinded shopkeep, police said.

Despite being sprayed with Mace, the determined store owner managed to hold onto the burglary suspect who'd gotten away but   returned to until Seal Beach police arrived, a sergeant said today.

Arlene Louise Bremner, 43, of Long Beach, was booked on suspicion of commercial burglary and using a tear gas weapon, Seal Beach police Sgt. Steve Bowles said. Bremner allegedly stole clothes from Inflight Surf and Sail at 1250 Pacific Coast Highway about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, making several trips from the two-level store to her car with the loot, Bowles said.

A neighboring business operator called the husband and wife who own the store to alert them of the alleged theft, Bowles said. The pair followed Bremner out to her car and retrieved some of the clothes, along with Bremner's purse, before she drove away, Bowles said.

When Bremner realized her purse was missing, she returned to the store and demanded it, Bowles said. When the owners refused, she sprayed Mace or pepper spray at them both, the sergeant said. ``He was literally blinded, but would not let go of her'' until police arrived, Bowles said of the husband. The wife called police while her husband held on to Bremner, the sergeant said.

City News Service contributed to this report.