A man walked into the Alta Bates Hospital gift shop Wednesday morning, but instead of buying flowers or get-well cards, he grabbed some 10 flashlights and stuffed them into his pockets.
Police received a call from the hospital at 2450 Ashby Ave. at 11:18 a.m.
The clerk confronted him and demanded that he return them, but he brushed by her and left the shop, a report says.
She alerted hospital security who confronted the suspect near the exit doors. The suspect shoved the security officer and fled southbound on Telegraph Avenue on foot. Berkeley Police officers searched but did not find him.
The department did not respond to Patch's request for a description of the suspect.
But the hospital has turned surveillance tape over to the Berkeley Police to identify the perpetrator.
"Such events occur rarely at Alta Bates Summit," said Jill Keith Gruen, regional marketing director for Sutter Health, in an email message.
