By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A self-professed con artist who claims to have scammed hundreds of victims picked the wrong mark when he went after a street-wise military commander, the would-be robber and victim both told a Manhattan jury Wednesday.
Louis Parson, 41, who has been convicted of three felonies in the past two decades, admitted on the stand he tried to run a scam on Swedish military commander Lt. Peter Palm near Penn Station last March.
The face-off began when Palm, 49, who was here on vacation with his dad was bumped by Parson on a Seventh Avenue sidewalk. Parson purposely dropped a collection of glass liquor bottles, which smashed on the pavement, the con man told jurors.
Parson then demanded $40 in compensation for the booze — even though he later admitted he'd already drank the contents and refilled the bottles with water.
"Excuse me sir, you just bumped into me," Parson opened his scam.
"No, I'm not giving you money, you bumped into me," Palm rebutted.
Parson trailed Palm and his father to the Hotel Pennsylvania, pulled a box cutter knife from his jacket pocket, and threatened the pair, "don't tell me somebody's gotta get f***ed up over this," he told the court.
Little did Parson know, he'd been under watch from the NYPD undercover unit since the start of his scam, prosecutors said. He was arrested on the scene.
He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on charges of attempted armed robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.
Parson, who made no attempt to hide his intentions to rob the pair, insisted he only pulled the knife out to defend himself from Palm.
"I didn't know he was a military officer," Parson said.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Ryan insisted Parson made up the story that the commander was about to throw a punch.
"Sir, you lie in your profession all day every day in order to get what you want," Ryan told the ex-con.
"It's to put food in my mouth," Parson insisted.
Closing statements in the trial will happen on Monday.
