VIDEO: Angry customers pelt clerk with avocados, bananas

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Man at bodega attacks with produce
Candace McCowan is live in the Melrose section of the Bronx

NEW YORK -- A clerk in a New York City bodega was seriously injured late last month after he was brazenly pelted with avocados and bananas.

Police say the 21-year-old employee was behind the counter at the Stadium Gourmet Deli on East 161st Street in the Concourse section of the Bronx on May 29 when two men apparently became angry following a dispute over a food order.

Newly released surveillance video shows the individuals repeatedly throwing unripe avocados and bananas at the employee.

Watch the raw video released by the NYPD here:

Surveillance video of two suspects hurling avocados at a store clerk in the Bronx.

"Somebody try to give you service, how you throw him with avocado?" said Hani Jirgis, the store's owner. "This is no good."

Jirgis says the customer and his friend appeared to be drunk at 5 a.m.

The attackers managed to get away in a dark colored sedan.

The victim was taken to Lincoln Hospital in serious but stable condition. He suffered a broken jaw along with fractures and a cut to his face.

"The guy, he needed surgery on his eyes," Jirgis said. "I don't know, what I say man, this action that he do is not normal."

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477, submit tips online at NYPDCrimeStoppers.com, or text any tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and then enter TIP577.