A deranged man clad in sweatpants and a hoodie showed the staff of a hyper-expensive Upper East Side jewelry store today that he’s got champagne-and-caviar tastes, police and witnesses said.
The man shoved his way past a security guard into de Grisogono, a Madison Avenue watch-and-gem emporium, at about 1:40 p.m.
“He was demanding business cards and catalogs, and he said, ‘I have millions of dollars to spend.’ He definitely seemed unstable,” recounted Kate Hemphill, a store manager.
The unarmed man claimed he admired a half-million-dollar timepiece in the window — and then he began fighting with a security guard who tried to get him to leave, said Hesham Ismail, who has a falafel cart on the corner of East 69th Street.
“He headbutted the security guard in the nose, and I saw blood coming from the security guard’s face. The guy kept hitting him,” Ismail said.
“He ended up wrestling with our security guard for eight minutes until the police arrived,” Hemphill said.
The suspect and the security guard were both taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, said police sources.
The suspect, who was not identified, is expected to be charged with criminal mischief and assault, said sources.