Teen Arrested in Beating of Elderly Store Clerk

A 17-year-old Yorba Linda youth struck a 71-year-old clerk over the head with a bottle and punched her in the face while attempting to rob a liquor store early Saturday morning, police said.

Anaheim police, who were alerted by a witness to the beating, arrested the teen-ager as he fled the Yorba Liquor Mart in the 5600 block of Orangethorpe Avenue at 8:17 a.m.

The youth entered the store with a knife and a stick minutes earlier and demanded money from the cash register, police said. When the clerk, a Brea woman who police are not identifying for safety reasons, did not hand over the money immediately, the teen-ager shoved her to the floor and began to hit her, police said.

“Apparently, she kind of tried to talk him out of it a little bit and he just went off on her,” Anaheim Sgt. John Kelley said.

The clerk was treated at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Anaheim for head injuries and sent home, police said.

The youth, who also threatened to take the clerk’s car, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, attempted robbery and attempted carjacking and was being held at Juvenile Hall, police said.

“He just didn’t like the way she was doing it so he got violent,” Anaheim Police Lt. Joe Reiss said. “I just feel sorry for the lady. She’s 71 years old.”