Police say two women stole items from a JC Penney store in Green Oak Township, then sprayed a loss prevention officer in the face with a substance and fled the store - leaving a 7-year-old child behind Friday evening.

By the time they were caught a short time later, Green Oak Township police say one of the women struck two shoppers' cars with her fleeing car and attempted to hide in some bushes to get away.

The incident unfolded at the JC Penney on Village Place Boulevard at about 6 p.m.

As officers got close to the store, they learned one woman was fleeing in a 1999 Dodge Stratus, which struck a moving vehicle in the mall parking lot, police said. The other car had minor damage.

A Green Oak Township officer attempted to stop the driver of the Stratus in the lot, but she kept driving. The officer then found the car behind the nearby Barnes and Noble store, where it had crashed into a parked car, police said.

The driver got out of the disabled Stratus and ran as Officer Patrick Moll chased her, reports said. He arrested the 36-year-old Toledo woman as she attempted to hide in some bushes.

Police say she also sprayed a JC Penney loss prevention officer in the face with an unknown substance as they were leaving the store.

Police learned a 27-year-old woman from Toledo also was involved, and left her 7-year-old son behind as she fled the store, police said.

The 27-year-old woman was also arrested, and her son was cared for by officers and JC Penney employees until he was turned over to his grandfather, police said.

The women were lodged in the Livingston County Jail.

The 36-year-old is expected to be charged with armed robbery, resisting and obstructing police, fleeing and eluding, two charges of hit and run, reckless driving, assault with intent to maim and receiving and concealing stolen property.

The 27-year-old is being held on charges of armed robbery, child neglect and receiving and concealing stolen property.