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Read the press release here.

Bodega Worker Arrested for Booting Customer From Store

By Gustavo Solis | August 12, 2015 3:20pm
 A worker at this deli was arrested for assaulting a customer. His coworkers and lawyers claim he was kicking the customer out for selling unknown items and did not injure him.
A worker at this deli was arrested for assaulting a customer. His coworkers and lawyers claim he was kicking the customer out for selling unknown items and did not injure him.
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DNAinfo/Gustavo Solis

EAST HARLEM — Coworkers of bodega employee who got arrested for attacking a customer claimed he was simply kicking out an unwanted customer and said they have the video to prove it.

Yousif Mosleh, 25, was arrested for assault on August 3 for pushing the 65-year-old man out the door at LX Deli near the corner of 125th Street and Lexington Avenue about 5:20 p.m., causing him to injure his head, according to the criminal complaint.

"He got arrested for pushing the guy," said Mohamad Alsaedi, who also works in the deli.

Mosleh kicked the man out because he believed the man was selling pills to customers, Alsaedi said.

The man has been booted from the store on several occasions, he added. 

The Video
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LX Deli

Surveillance video shows the man handing an unknown item to a woman near the back of the store. After the exchange, Mosleh approaches them and points toward the door.

Two women leave but the man stays in the store. Then Mosleh shoves him toward the door. The man does not appear to fall or hurt his head on the video.

The man called police after the incident and Mosleh was arrested around 5:40 p.m. During the arrest, Mosleh asked officers to look at the video but the officers refused, Alsaedi said.

“The problem with our system is that the guy goes running to the police but no one wants to look at the video,” said Mosleh’s lawyer Lance Lazzaro. "I think he is innocent and the video substantiates that fact." 

The NYPD referred questions about the case the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. A spokesperson at the DA's Office declined to comment on an open case.

Mosleh was released on his own recognizance August 4, he is due in court September 29, records show.

Employees at the store claim they are targeted by the NYPD because of a crackdown on synthetic marijuana and untaxed cigarettes. The NYPD and Health Department recently raided the deli and found more than 2,000 packets in the store, according to reports.

Alsaedi said the store was selling K2 and loosies but they have stopped. While a reporter interviewed employees Monday and Tuesday, several customers at the bodega asked to buy loosies but employees told them they don't do that anymore.

Since the raid, the deli has cleaned up its act, Alsaedi said.

“Yes, we did something wrong but we don't do that anymore," he said.