LOWER EAST SIDE — A man put a bodega employee in a chokehold and ripped his shirt while stealing a single Marlboro Light cigarette on July 4, according to police and the employee.
Ahmed Salem, 28, was on a smoke break outside his place of work, the Rotana Smoke Shop at 188 Orchard St., at around 9:40 p.m. when the suspect approached him and grabbed him by the neck, saying "Give me a f---ing cigarette," according to Salem, who filed a police report with the 7th Precinct.
While gripping his neck with one hand, the suspect raised the other hand in a fist, threatening to strike, said Salem.
"I gave it to him, because he was going to punch me," he said.
"I put my hands like this," he continued, raising his hands above his head.
Salem described the suspect as a man in his 40s or 50s who was dressed in all black, and said he appeared to be drunk.
After grabbing the cigarette, the suspect fled Westbound on E. Houston Street, according to the police report.
No arrests have been made, authorities said, and the investigation is ongoing.
