NYPD: Woman Arrested After Attempting To Shoplift, Biting Employee At Foodtown

Photo by John Montagna

A woman was arrested late Wednesday afternoon after she allegedly tried to shoplift from Foodtown (382 McDonald Avenue), bit a delivery man while trying to flee the store, and climbed atop shelving before eventually jumping or falling from the unit, according to a spokesman for the 66th Precinct and neighbors who witnessed the incident.

The woman, whose name police did not release, was charged with assault and petit larceny. According to neighbors, employees have noticed the woman allegedly shoplifting from the store before and when staff attempted to stop her from leaving Foodtown a little before 4:15pm yesterday, she reportedly pulled out a knife. While originally there were rumors that she stabbed someone, police said this was not true and that she bit a delivery man on his finger.

After being barred from leaving the store, the woman climbed on top of shelving in the shop, witnesses said. Neighbors said police from the 66th Precinct quickly arrived at the scene and began calmly speaking to the woman to try and get her to come down.

“She was at the top of some shelves – they had mangos up there,” neighbor Matthew Hall told us. “The cops who were there, they noticed she was obviously disturbed and no weapons were drawn or anything like that. It was definitely not confrontational but about talking her down from a difficult situation.”

The woman either jumped or fell from the shelves, witnesses said, after which police immediately called for an ambulance.

“She just laid there, and the first response of the cops was to call for an ambulance,” Matthew said. “When that came, they walked her to the ambulance, and she started intentionally banging her head on the side of the ambulance. They strapped her to a gurney to stop her from hurting herself.”

Neighbor John Montagna, who snapped the above photo of the woman just before she jumped or fell from the shelving, told us he saw most of the scene unfold and was on the phone with his wife at 4:13pm when he walked past the manager, who was trying to subdue the suspect. Like the other neighbors we spoke to, John stressed that the police were calm and courteous. John said the Foodtown employees were shaken but were doing alright and told us that he saw a Foodtown employee cleaning and bandaging the wound for the delivery man, who was able to continue working after the incident.

On a thread in the Kensington Facebook group, John wrote of the situation:

It was sad; this person was clearly in a difficult mental state, and needs serious professional help. The fact that everyone else on the scene was so calm and helpful reinforced this fact, and reminds me of what makes our community so great.

We are relieved to hear no one was seriously injured during the incident, and if you’d like to share any other details about yesterday, you can email us at editor@kensingtonbk.com.