NEW BRIGHTON — A knife-wielding man robbed an ice cream cone from a Jersey Street deli and asked the store owner to record it on Facebook Live, prosecutors said.
Rasheem Harrison, 30, walked in to the deli at 427 Jersey St. on Wednesday at about 8:40 a.m., took an ice cream cone and told the owner to record the interaction on Facebook.
"You gotta record me, I got a knife," Harrison said, according to his criminal complaint. "You gotta go live and record."
Shop owner Abdul Aziz-Alserahi obliged and calmly recorded the interaction as Harrison holds the ice cream and takes out a knife.
"Did I pay for this ice cream," Harrison said on the video. "I'm going to eat it whether you like it or not and you can take it how you want to because by the end of the day, what I got in my hand."
The video was first reported by the Staten Island Advance.
Aziz-Alserahi said he didn't want to immediately call police and was so calm in the video because he knew it would put him in more danger.
"If I show them fear he would’ve robbed me, he would’ve tried to kill me," said Aziz-Alserahi, who's owned the store for two months but has worked and owned delis around the country for years. "I dealt with him before. I was nervous and calm."
In the nearly three-minute long video, Harrison tells Aziz-Alserahi he could buy the store, asks how much money he has behind the counter, threatens to take his phone and talks about his previous crimes.
"I do stickups," Harrison said in the video. "I'm the type of n---er that will touch your pocket."
When the video wasn't rolling, Harrison said he was going to steal the ice cream and would come back with friends if he said anything about it.
"I am going to eat this and nobody going to do anything about this," Harrison said, according to his complaint. "I am going to come back with my Stapleton n---ers and we got you."
Aziz-Alserahi said he waited for Harrison to leave the store then called the police who came and arrested him outside.
Harrison was charged with robbery, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing at his arraignment, the Staten Island District Attorney's office said.
His bail was set at $25,000 and he's due back in court on Dec. 27, according to online court records.
He was previously convicted of reckless endangerment in 2013, according to his complaint.
Aziz-Alserahi, who goe by "AK A Isaac" on Facebook, regularly posts videos of himself and customers on his page to show the Internet life in the neighborhood.
"I try to show people that the hood is not like you think it is," he said.
"It depends how you act towards them, most of these guys are wannabes. They're thirsty for attention."
