CHELSEA — A shoplifter jumped over the counter at a 7-Eleven on West 23rd Street to steal more than 20 packs of cigarettes, police said.
The thief hopped the counter inside the store at 246 W. 23rd St., between Seventh and Eighth avenues, and stole 21 packs of Newport 100s worth approximately $279 around 12:54 a.m. on July 14, the NYPD said.
Just before the theft, another customer asked the worker manning the counter for help getting a pack of beer in the back of the store, said another employee, who declined to give her name.
The customer may have been distracting the clerk on behalf of the thief, the worker said.
“He came and jumped the counter,” she said of the thief. “He took the cigarettes, and he jumped again.”
A regular customer who witnessed the thief running out of the store with the cigarettes called police, she added.
No one had been arrested in connection with the incident as of last Wednesday.
Other recent notable incidents in the 10th Precinct include:
► An 18-year-old man was walking southbound on Eighth Avenue near West 25th Street around 10:45 p.m. on July 14 when he got into an argument with three other men, the NYPD said. The argument escalated into a fight, and the 18-year-old was left with lacerations on his back, arm, left ear and finger. It was unclear if a weapon was used. Two 35-year-old men and a 40-year-old man were arrested at the scene, and the victim refused medical attention.
► A 29-year-old man was arrested after he punched a 28-year-old man inside The Park restaurant, at 118 10th Ave., around 1:10 a.m. on July 15, police said. The Park didn’t immediately respond to request for comment Friday.
► A 36-year-old man was waiting to get his bill inside the Gilded Lily nightclub at 408 W. 15th St., near Ninth Avenue, around 1:40 a.m. on July 16 when another man shoved him, punched him in the back of the head and threw his glasses on the ground, the NYPD said. “I’m gonna hurt you,” the man told the victim, according to police. The attacker, a 24-year-old man, was arrested, and the victim refused medical attention. The club didn’t immediately respond to request for comment on Friday.
► A 29-year-old man and a 56-year-old man were arrested after a police officer spotted one of them buying unspecified drugs from the other at the northwest corner of West 14th Street and Ninth Avenue around 3:10 a.m. on July 14, police said. When police searched one of the men at the 10th Precinct, they found an unspecified amount of pot.
► A 52-year-old man was talking on his phone inside a Starbucks at 593 Ninth Ave., at the corner of West 43rd Street, around 6 p.m. on July 14 when he realized his $1,000 iPad Air was no longer in his bag, the NYPD said. He used the Find My iPhone app to track the device to a location down the street, but wasn’t able to determine where it was. Police hadn’t arrested anyone in connection with the theft as of last Wednesday. An employee working at the store on Friday declined to comment on the incident.
