VIDEO: Man grabs Irvine boutique employee by hair in attempted kidnapping

IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) -- A man has been arrested after shocking surveillance video from Mon Beau Bebe, a baby boutique in Irvine, showed him grabbing a female employee by the hair and trying to pull her into a storage room Saturday.

Charlie Choi, 48, was taken into custody at his residence in the Portola Springs area Monday.

Police said the boutique employee fought and screamed until Choi finally let her go. The employee was the only one in the store at the time.

"She was assaulted at the store, a man had walked in and pretended to be a customer," said Stephanie Arreaza, the store's manager.

Arreaza said the victim is in her 20s and is OK, just shaken up.

"She fought him and told him that there were video cameras in the store, at which point he released her and fled from the store," said Kim Mohr of the Irvine Police Department.

Police called the incident an attempted kidnapping. It happened around 7 p.m. Saturday in the busy Woodbury Town Center.

"Sometimes it's just one of us girls here at a time and you know it happened in seconds. It's a very scary incident, especially here," said Arreaza.

Arreaza said the store has changed its scheduling so no employee is ever alone.