A 55-year-old South Kitsap woman was arrested Tuesday for assaulting a local grocery store manager after trying to steal a cart full of groceries, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office reported.

According to the report, the incident began around 3:30 p.m. at the Safeway grocery store at the corner of Bethel Road and Lund Avenue Nov. 24 when the suspect was observed leaving the store with a teen-age male and “a cart full of groceries” that the pair did not pay for.

When a manager confronted the pair and returned them to the store, he said the female suspect began assaulting him, hitting him in the face and kicking him near his groin.

When a deputy arrived at the store, he noted that the female suspect was acting “very odd (and) very twitchy.” She reportedly told him she did not steal the groceries, but admitted she attacked the manager and “wished she were stronger so she could have hurt him worse.”

She went on to say that the manager liked “pushing around females,” and if she had the chance to hurt him again, she would.

When the deputy asked her why she left the store without paying for her items, she said she was going back to her car to get her $300, which she guessed she dropped there. When told the items in the cart were worth nearly $900, the suspect said she must have gotten a few extra items and wasn’t “paying attention to the price.”

When asked why she attacked the manager, the suspect said he “grabbed her and she didn’t want him touching her, so she hit and kicked him.” She also reportedly added that she was “proud of what she did” and would do it again.

The teenager with her was identified as her grandson, who told the deputy he was not aware the suspect was stealing, and that he assumed when she left the store without paying that she “knew what she was doing.”

The woman was then arrested and booked into Kitsap County Jail for first-degree robbery. Her bail was set at $20,000.