An employee of a Mountain View, CA Starbucks coffee shop was punched in the face Tuesday while trying to stop a thief from stealing the store’s tip jar, police said.
The employee, who was 19 years old, was leaving the Mountain View Starbucks, located at 1390 Pear Avenue after his shift when he saw someone exiting the building with the tip jar, according to Liz Wylie, the spokswoman for the Mountain View Police Department. When the employee ordered the man to stop he began running and the employee began running after him. When the employee caught up with the thief in the parking lot at 1625 Space Park Way, he was met by four or five of the thief’s accomplices, according to Wylie, who said the theirf moved toward the employee and “clocked him in the face.” The employee only sustained minor injuries. The men escaped by driving off in a red four-door Japanese car.
Police said that tip jars have been stolen from two other Starbucks stores in the area. Police do think these incidents are related.
