Confrontation During Pelham Manor Theft

PELHAM MANOR, N.Y. – A man allegedly stole from a store on Boston Post Road early Wednesday morning and then overwhelmed the clerk who tried to stop him, Pelham Manor police said.

The manager contacted Pelham Manor police after his morning shift employee told him that the clerk working the midnight shift had been robbed. Police watched surveillance tape that showed a man enter the store and buy a pack of cigarettes.

The man then took some cell phone car chargers from a rack approximately ten feet from the door on his way out and started to put them in his pockets and inside his jacket, according to police. He dropped them several times throughout the process, and he appeared drunk as he continued to fumble them, the police report said.

As the man left the store the clerk then left his post behind the counter to confront him. The video showed the clerk pulling the suspect back into the store by his arm. The suspect appeared to resist, and the confrontation escalated to the point that the clerk threw a defensive right-handed punch to the man’s face. Another man then came over to help the suspect, both with contact and a “threatening, aggressive posture,” police said.

The clerk became overwhelmed and the two men left. They got into the car with the first suspect in the driver’s seat. A third person also got into the car after apparently  being outside during the entire incident, the report said.

The clerk told police by phone that he did not call them because he was “too busy with customers.” The video showed multiple customers entering the store during the incident. Most appeared aware of what was happening, but none intervened, according to the police report.

The clerk was not injured but was “shaken” by the incident. He also told police that the two suspects threatened him that they would “be back.” Police acquired photos of the suspects and notified the detective division about the case.

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