A brave Park Slope shopkeeper, armed only with a trash receptacle, was captured on video trying to fight off a knife-wielding bandit during a recent robbery at his Brooklyn smoke shop.
The unidentified clerk was behind the counter at the New Star Tabbacco Smoke Shop on Fifth Avenue at St. Marks Place about 2:45 p.m. Wednesday when a man walked in brandishing a knife and announced a robbery, police said.
In video footage from the store’s surveillance camera, the suspect can be seen rifling through the cash register while the unidentified clerk tries to beat the man off with a wastepaper basket, shredded paper spilling onto the floor.
The crook is seen grabbing fistfuls of cash from the register while trying to shield himself from the blows. At one point, the clerk can be seen tossing the basket and raising what appears to be a baseball bat.
Despite the clerk’s best efforts, the crook bolted with an undisclosed amount of cash and made his getaway in a green 2009 Ford F-250 pick-up truck, police said.
The clerk was not hurt in the attack.
The video was released by police in the hopes it will help them identify the suspect.
The suspect is believed to be about 40 years old. He is about 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds, police said. He was wearing a blue baseball cap and a black three quarters’ length snorkel jacket at the time of the crime, said police.