Alleged shoplifter dies during altercation with security guards
Brooklyn NY April 15 2018 A suspected shoplifter died inside a Brooklyn grocery store Saturday morning, after getting tackled by a trio of employees who then sat on him, according to police and eyewitnesses.
The 51-year-old man, who local residents say is named Gerard and goes by the street name “Star,” had been shoving items into what looked like a cake box at the Stop & Shop at Flatbush and Tilden avenues, witnesses said.
Shopper Antwaune Savage, 31, told The Post he watched in shock as the three workers hurled him to the ground, holding him down even as he told them he had a bad heart and couldn’t breathe, Savage said.
“They were on top of him,” Savage said.
“Literally standing on top of him. Stepping on him to hold him down.”
Clintisha Lewis, 27, who lives in the area, said the store manager, assistant manager and a produce worker joined in the take-down.
“The store manager was on his head part,” Lewis said. “A female, [the assistant manager], was on his belly part and a worker was on his legs. Those are three adults sitting on him.”
Responding cops found Gerard on the floor unconscious, and EMS workers rushed him to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The city medical examiner will determine Gerard’s cause of death. No one was arrested in connection to the incident by late Saturday.
Employees at the store declined to comment to the Post.
NY Post
