Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

Pie WhyThe $3 cherry pie turned into a fool’s errand. Shortly after noon on Saturday, April 1, an employee in the Key Food store at 1769 Second Ave. saw a would-be customer putting slipping an Entenmann’s pie into a plastic bag and then try to leave without paying. The employee tried to stop the man, but the latter grabbed the employee’s neck chain before snatching an umbrella on display and swinging it at the employee. Other store personnel came to their colleague’s assistance and subdued the shoplifter, later only identified as a 37-year-old. He was subsequently arrested and charged with robbery, resisting arrest and criminal possession of stolen property.

What a PaneAt 5:15 p.m. on Sunday, March 26, a 26-year-old man was engaged in a verbal dispute with an employee of the 2nd Ave Deli at 1442 First Ave. The 26-year-old took it to the next level and kicked out two panes of glass in the front of the store. The punter was treated at Mount Sinai Hospital for a minor cut to his leg treated and at 9:25 p.m. was arrested and charged with criminal mischief.

Card SharksTwo more perpetrators were arrested following an incident at Bloomingdale’s. At about noon on Tuesday, March 28, store loss-prevention staff stopped two men who tried to purchase a Dior bag and a Chanel bag, together valued at $5781.26, with what was determined to be a stolen credit card. The pair — one age 25, the other age 30 — were arrested and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.

Mellow YellowAn errant cabbie got collared after taking a belt. At 10 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4, a 66-year-old man driving a 2012 Toyota Camry yellow cab hit a number of parked vehicles at the corner of 62nd Street and Second Avenue. He was pulled over by police, who detected a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and found a bottle of alcohol in his taxi. He subsequently failed a breathalyzer test and was arrested for driving while under the influence.

One Take over the LineA thief returned to the scene of a crime and got arrested. Surveillance video in the Nike Running store at 1131 Third Ave. showed a man taking a Nike Windrunner jacket, valued at $1,100, off a store display before leaving the location, at 6:28 p.m. on Monday, March 20. The man might have gotten away with the crime, but he returned again at 5:51 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4. He was recognized, police were summoned, and the 23-year-old was arrested and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of a controlled substance. That’s because a search of his person discovered an alleged heroin package with residue.