Suspected shoplifter wallops NYPD cop in the face after being asked to leave store
By
Larry Celona and
Craig McCarthy
December 10, 2021 4:48pm
Updated
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A suspected shoplifter walloped an NYPD cop in the face — sending her flying to the ground — at a Manhattan drug store Friday morning when she asked him to leave, video shows.
The manager of the Duane Reade on East 34th Street in Murray Hill told cops he had recognized the man from a prior theft and asked the female officer assigned to the door to step in, according to police sources.
But after a brief conversation around 11:30 a.m between the man and the sergeant, who was working a paid security gig at the store between Lexington and Third avenues, the encounter turned violent.
A short clip capturing part of the episode, obtained by The Post, shows the man pushing the officer out of the way and trying to run off.
The thief then cocks back and hits the cop in the side of the face, knocking her to the ground, after she tried to grab him, the video shows.
Video surveillance captured the shop lifter turning around to punch the female cop before running away.Duane Reade
The officer was treated for minor injuries at Bellevue Hospital,Duane Reade
Surveillance footage captures the exchange between a female officer and suspected shoplifter at the Manhattan Duane Reade in Murray Hill.Duane Reade
The officer was treated for minor injuries at Bellevue Hospital, police said.
Nothing was believed to have been stolen from the store, sources said.
The violent shoplifting incident comes as reports of retail thefts tick up. There were 29,497 reports of larcenies from bodegas or chain stores through the end of September, the latest data available, just over 1,600 more cases than during the same time in 2019.
One man, Isaac Rodriguez,
has been busted 46 times for thefts just this year, The Post reported in October.
WANTED for ASSAULT ON A POLICE OFFICER: On 12/10 11:35 am, inside of Duane Reade at 155 East 34th St in Manhattan, a uniformed sergeant stopped a shoplifter who then punched sergeant in the face before fleeing.
