CHELSEA — A thief posing as a customer ran out of a West 14th Street smoke shop with two vaporizers worth nearly $400, the NYPD said.
An employee at New Jubilee Vape, at 219 W. 14th St. near Seventh Avenue, was showing products to the man around 5:40 p.m. on Jan. 6 when the suspect told him he was going to "show [them to] his girlfriend," police said.
The man ran out of the store with a $225 Pax 2 vaporizer and a $160 G Pen vaporizer, the NYPD said.
Police hadn’t arrested the suspect as of Wednesday. An employee working at the store Wednesday afternoon said she wasn’t there when the incident happened.
Other recent crimes in the 10th Precinct include:
► A 33-year-old man walked out of the Triple Crown Ale House at 330 Seventh Ave., between West 28th and 29th streets, around 11:50 p.m. on Jan. 5 without paying his $60.43 bill for food and drinks, the NYPD said.
When his waitress and the bar’s manager confronted him outside the restaurant, he attacked the waitress, causing “minor injuries” to her right forearm. The bar’s staff followed the man to Penn Station, where Amtrak police arrested him.
A manager working at Triple Crown on Wednesday who declined to give his name said the waitress was “fine,” adding that dine-and-dashes are “part of doing business.”
► A 69-year-old man was driving a cab near the corner of West 20th Street and Seventh Avenue around 3:20 a.m. on Jan. 8 when a 23-year-old man punched his driver’s side window, detaching the window and side mirror, the NYPD said. A police officer chased the man down and arrested him.
► A man took a $500 speaker and a $50 travel bag for pets from Towne House Grooming & Pet Supplies, at 288 Eighth Ave. near West 25th Street, around 12:50 p.m. on Jan. 7, before handing them to a female accomplice and fleeing, police said. No one had been arrested in connection with the incident as of Wednesday and a manager for the shop didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
► A 29-year-old cabdriver was parked in front of 343 W. 14th St., near Ninth Avenue, around 5 p.m. on Jan. 6 when three men opened his doors and grabbed $100 in cash from his center console before fleeing eastbound on West 14th Street, the NYPD said. Police searched the area for the thieves but didn’t find them.
► A 33-year-old man was arrested after kicking and breaking a glass side door at the Lucky Strike bowling lounge, at 660 W. 42nd St. near the West Side Highway, around 10:21 p.m. on Jan. 6, police said. A manager at Lucky Strike did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
