A physical struggle that broke out at an Elizabeth, NJ mall over the weekend has police investigating.
The incident happened inside The Mills at Jersey Gardens Mall at around 5 p.m. on Saturday evening where several online videos show that mall security was attempting to break up a dispute between an alleged male shoplifter and several lost prevention officers-employees near the Century 21 store.
The video showed the violent confrontation where the man was struck in the face by a loss prevention officer while several women -who appeared to be store employees- were attempting to hold the man until police arrived.
The man became aggressively agitated and began to charge after the loss prevention officer during a heated argument that was laced with profanity and other threats according to the video.
Several mall security officers arrived and attempted to alleviate the situation and escort the man away from the store when the man pulled his shirt off and began to attack the security officer.
The officer was violently slammed to the floor during which the other officers struggled to pull the man off of the security officer the video showed.
The struggle lasted for about a minute with nearly 100 people observing the confrontation.
At about two minutes into the video, Elizabeth Police officers arrived at the scene and escorted the man back into the store where managers pulled the security gates down, temporarily locking shoppers and employees in the store.
The man suffered an injury to his face and was treated, then taken into custody.
It is not clear if the mall security office suffered any serious injuries.
A manager for Century 21 declined to comment during a phone conversation only stating that there were no injuries to her knowledge.
The incident is under investigation by Elizabeth authorities.