Shoppers Unknowingly Rescue Thief From Detectives

German shoppers sprang to the help of a shoplifter who was being detained after trying to steal clothes at a department store, wrongly assuming she was being attacked by strangers.

Two store detectives caught a woman in her mid-30s stealing garments in the German city of Mainz and attempted to detain her for questioning.

The woman tried to free herself, bit, kicked and hit the detectives who wrestled her down. But worried passers-by saw this, thought the woman was in trouble, and ran to help her.

When asked about the incident, disappointed police could only say: "They hauled the detectives away from her ... The woman managed to run away".

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