MIDTOWN — An ex-con with a crack pipe in his pocket tried to swipe food from the display shelves at two different Midtown stores — two days after he was caught stealing $300 worth of salmon from one of the locations, the NYPD said.
Dawine Black, 39, of Brooklyn man was walking through the Food Emporium at 810 Eighth Ave., between West 49th and West 50th streets, around 1 p.m on Sept. 21 when an employee saw him take 12 packages of salmon from a refrigerator, put them in a bag and tuck them under his arm, the store’s manager and a criminal complaint said.
After taking the salmon, he ran past the Food Emporium’s cash registers and tried to flee the store, the NYPD said.
A Food Emporium manager said he confronted Black about the salmon as he tried to leave the store but that the would-be thief tried to run past him.
“He went to go out the revolving door,” recalled the manager, Efrain Santoni. “That’s when I snatched the bag and all the salmon came pouring out of his bag.
“It was like a rainfall,” he added.
Two days later, around 11:05 a.m., Black returned to the same store, where an employee saw him take a bag of chips and a $7 cherry pie from a display shelf, open the bag and start eating, police and the DA's office said.
When an employee tried to take the chips from his hand, Black picked up a milk crate and swung it at the workers, who had to move out of the way quickly to avoid being hit, the complaint said.
An assistant manager at Food Emporium said he witnessed the suspect taking the items and throwing chips "all over the store."
“This guy was just a nag, you know?” said the employee, Gilbert Gittens. “He’s just throwing everything on the floor, making a mess.”
Black ran out of the store, but 10 minutes later a police officer saw him go into the Duane Reade at 771 Eighth Ave., take a $3 box of Cheez-Its off a shelf and shove it down his pants, police and prosecutors said.
When the officer stopped Black, he found a crack pipe with residue in his pants pocket, the complaint said.
He was arrested and charged with petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal possession of a controlled substance and harassment, according to the complaint.
He pleaded guilty to petit larceny on Sept. 24, and received a sentence that involved a day custody program, the DA’s office said.
City Department of Correction records show him being released on Sept. 27.
Black has an "extensive" arrest history that includes more than 80 arrests, the NYPD said.
Between Sept. 2012 and July 2013, he served time in prison for attempted robbery and attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance, a city DOC spokeswoman said.
An attorney for Black did not respond to a request for comment.
