A would-be soup thief ended up in hot water after customers at a downtown Butler store stopped his getaway Wednesday evening.

Butler police arrested 23-year-old Kevin Merritt, who has no known address, on charges of robbery, retail theft and public drunkenness for the suspected failed shoplifting at the Dollar General on North Main Street.

A disturbance call shortly before 6 p.m. sent city officers to the store where they found several people, believed to be customers, restraining Merritt, said police Lt. Detective Anthony Fatta.

The manager told police that an employee spotted the suspect hiding several packages of soup and a bottle of Gatorade. When the manager, a woman, confronted Merritt, he allegedly fought back.

“He grabbed her and tried to push her away,” Fatta said of the defendant.

At that point, Fatta said, the customers moved in to help stop Merritt and hold him until police got there. No injuries were reported.

The items the suspect tried to swipe are valued at $4.60, police said, which earned him just a summary charge of retail theft. But his decision to use force against the manager turned the simple shoplifting into a robbery, a felony.

Merritt was taken to the Butler County Prison to await arraignment on charges this morning.