A duo trying to steal merchandise from a Bronx dollar store was caught on video putting a 23-year-old female worker in a chokehold last week — the third violent robbery at the shop in less than a year.
“I was physically assaulted in front of people, and I had to defend myself in front of kids,” the shaken victim told The Post on Sunday.
“I was scared to come back to work because they might know me,” the Westchester County resident, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety, said of her attackers. “They can hurt me — I still work here.”
A 23-year-old female employee at a Bronx Family Dollar Store was attacked by a pair of robbers earlier this month. DCPI
The employee intervened when she caught the duo attempting to steal over $400 worth of goods. DCPIThe incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14, at the Family Dollar Store on Webster Avenue near East 168th Street in Morrisania when an unidentified man and woman tried to leave the store with a cart containing goods, cops said.
The worker said she was watching the whole incident unfold on a security camera and thought that the thieves would have gotten away with about $400 worth of goods if she didn’t intervene.
“They had cleaning stuff, tissues, everything. They had everything from inside the store,” she said.
There have been three violent robberies at the Bronx store in the past year. DCPIThe worker said that when she confronted the crooks, they fought her for their booty — and the female robber even choked her, video shows.
The attack was the third such violent incident at the discount store since October, police said.
In January, a sticky-fingered suspect used eye-stinging pepper spray on a worker who tried to stop them from leaving the store with swiped goods, cops said.
Three months earlier, a man and a woman tried to steal clothes and household products from the store. When a clerk intervened, the man slashed him with a box-cutter, cops said.
Last week’s assaulted worker said the store doesn’t have regular security despite shoplifting there practically every day.
“We need some more security, and we need the strongest ones because this is getting worse,” she said.
“The area is not good. We have a lot of [homeless] shelters here, and it’s the shelter people come in here [from] and steal stuff.”
Last week’s two thieves fled the location with an unknown amount of store merchandise, cops said.
Meanwhile, the employee who confronted them sustained minor injuries and was treated by EMS at the scene.
The female thief is described as approximately 5 feet 6 and 220 pounds with her long black hair in braids. She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, black pants and black Adidas sandals.
The man is described as approximately 5 feet 4 with a slim build, bald head and gray facial hair. He was last seen wearing a black baseball hat with a blue rim, a black T-shirt with a white Adidas logo on the front, black pants with white stripes on the legs and white sneakers.
