Manhattan

A crook who tried to hold up the Angelika theater threatened a teenage worker with a gun before spraying liquid — thought to be lighter fluid — at her, cops said yesterday.

The man handed a note to the ticket clerk at the West Houston Street theater at 8:40 p.m. on Monday. It read, “This is a robbery. Give me the cash in the register. I have a gun.”

When the worker, Johanna Pajuelo, 18, hit the floor, the robber pulled a water bottle out of a bag and tried to douse her with the liquid, which the theater manager said smelled “like lighter fluid.”

The robber ran off when Pajuelo grabbed a phone. She was not hurt.

“I have been really upset by it,” she said yesterday, “but there’s a lot of crazy stuff happens in New York.”

A thief claiming he was HIV-positive and armed with a gun tried to rob a Midtown bank, but wound up behind bars, cops said yesterday.

Tashon Smith, 33, allegedly slipped a note to a female teller in the Chase branch on East 42nd Street near Park Avenue at about 1:30 p.m. last Thursday.

The note read, “I am HIV-positive and I got a gun. Give me all the money or I’ll start shooting,” sources said.

But the teller did not hand over any cash and instead called 911. Smith fled, but was quickly captured and charged with attempted robbery, the DA’s office said.

A shoplifter broke a cashier’s finger after swiping 10-packs of Red Bull from a CVS store in Chelsea, cops said yesterday.

A manager spotted Phillip Huggins, 48, grab the drinks off a shelf and try to leave the store on Eighth Avenue near West 26th Street at 1:40 a.m. Friday, cops said.

The manager and the cashier, who was standing nearby, stopped Huggins and got into a confrontation, cops said.

During the struggle, Huggins allegedly broke the cashier’s finger before being restrained.

Huggins was charged with robbery and assault.

A crook broke into an Upper East Side newsstand and swiped more than $11,500 in cash.

Between 9 a.m. Sunday and 6:12 a.m. Monday, the intruder broke into the Vipin Vora Newsstand on East 86th Street near Second Avenue and took the cash, plus 31 boxes of cigarettes.

Three muggers beat and robbed a man yesterday in Union Square, police sources said.

The thugs approached the man and asked him for a dollar at Union Square West near West 17th Street at 1:05 a.m.

When the victim, 38, refused, the thieves punched him in the face and swiped his Irish passport, US passport, BlackBerry Curve, Burberry coat and $300.

They ran off.

A burglar swiped $26,000 in watches from a Kips Bay apartment, police sources said yesterday.

The intruder slipped inside the 21st-floor apartment on Park Avenue South near East 28th Street at around 9:30 a.m. Monday.

He grabbed the watches from a bedside drawer and ducked out.

The tenants, a man and wife, didn’t discover the theft until they came home from work at about 10:20 p.m.

Brooklyn

A knife-wielding shoplifter was tackled and restrained by a worker in a Park Slope supermarket, authorities said yesterday.

Darryl Curry, 42, tried to wheel a shopping cart full of stolen meat and seafood out of the Pathmark on 12th Street near Third Avenue at about 1 p.m. Monday, cops said.

When the worker stopped Curry, the suspect allegedly pulled a knife and swung it at the man, who then tackled Curry and disarmed him.

Police were called and arrested Curry after a brief struggle, cops said. He was charged with attempted robbery, menacing and resisting arrest.

A man cracked a friend over the head with a metal pipe in Greenpoint, authorities said yesterday.

Louis Hawthorne, 51, got into an argument with the 19-year-old victim after Hawthorne accused the teen of stealing his property, sources said.

Hawthorne then allegedly beat the victim with the pipe on Morgan Avenue near Thames Street at 12:07 p.m. Monday.

Cops quickly arrested Hawthorne, who was charged with assault, menacing and weapon possession.

The teen needed staples for a head laceration.

Bronx

A 16-year-old boy was shot and wounded outside a Mott Haven apartment building, police sources said yesterday.

The teenager, who was also shot on two prior occasions, took a bullet on East 137th Street near St. Ann’s Avenue at 1 a.m. Sunday. The gunman ran off.

The victim was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. Police sources said he was being uncooperative.