This is the moment a brave woman tried to stop three masked robbers from attacking a spa in Manhattan over the weekend.
The three perpetrators entered the Rescue Spa on East 19th Street in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood shortly after 2:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon, where they stole over $3,000 worth of groceries, according to police.
At first, the trio appeared casually perusing the shelves, but it soon became apparent that they were stuffing their pockets with merchandise.
Realizing the scammers’ true intentions, the woman stepped forward to confront one of them, who dropped a stack of goods to the floor as he pushed her away.
Moments later, the thieves headed for the exit with pockets full of loot, but the woman chased them to the door, where security footage emerged showing her trying to drag one of the fleeing criminals back into the store.
The masked man kicked and pushed her again before leaving with his accomplices to complete the 14-second heist.
This is the latest in a long line of burglaries poisoning the Big Apple, a trend that seems to have spread from California, where theft has become almost commonplace.
New York City has seen a significant surge in crime lately, with NYPD crime statistics for February showing a nearly 60 percent increase in violent crime compared to the same month last year.
Realizing the scammers’ true intentions, the woman stepped forward to confront one of them, who dropped a stack of goods to the floor as he pushed her away.
Moments later, the thieves headed for the exit with pockets full of loot, but the woman chased them to the door, where security footage emerged showing her trying to drag one of the fleeing criminals back into the store.
One of the robbers pushed and hit the woman again as he left, and another woman ran out of the spa to collect the goods that had been knocked to the floor.
It’s unclear exactly what goods were stolen by the masked trio, but the police report says a total of $3,129 was stolen.
Rescue Spa is advertised as a luxury day spa that offers a range of beauty treatments and also sells high quality health and wellness products and tools, some of which sell for hundreds of dollars.
contacted Rescue Spa for comment.
The brazen robbery is comparable to the countless incidents taking place in California cities that have been hit hard by petty criminals trying to cash in on luxury retail stores.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to crack down on retail thieving gangs despite a controversial 2014 law, Proposition 47, that bars prosecutors from bringing felony charges against suspects who steal less than $950 worth of merchandise.
But that trend has only worsened in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and retail store robberies have become commonplace across the state.
A jewelry store in Beverly Hills lost millions of items in a robbery in broad daylight just yesterday afternoon.
Authorities said the five thieves arrived at the Luxury Jewels of Beverly Hills store on the corner of South Beverly Drive and Charleville Boulevard around 2:00 pm, smashed the store’s front window and escaped with bags of expensive jewelry, before fleeing in a separate car.
Roving gangs of criminals have been known to attack high-end stores such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry, as well as national chains such as Walgreens and CVS.
Last year, Walgreens said retail theft in San Francisco was five times the chain average and security costs were 46 times the chain average, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Grand theft rates in California’s liberal bastion rose 19% in late February compared to the same period last year, according to the latest crime data available.
The video shows a group of five people who, according to police, smashed a shop window with sledgehammers.
Luxury jewels of Beverly Hills on the corner of South Beverly Drive and Charleville Boulevard.
Meanwhile, New York City is seeing a startling rise in crime across the board.
Statistics released earlier this month show an almost 60 percent increase in incidents this February compared to 2021, with grand theft up an impressive 79 percent.
The city’s latest crime data released by the NYPD showed 9,138 incidents last month, up from 5,759 in the same period in 2021 — with double-digit increases in nearly every major category.
There were 32 murders in February, three more than in the same month last year.
Many other categories saw a shocking jump, including car theft, which rose nearly 105 percent; robberies, which rose by 56 percent; A 44 percent increase in burglaries and a 22 percent surge in assaults. Rape also rose by a staggering 35 percent in February.
It comes amid reports that several violent criminals with extensive criminal records have been released without bail after their arrest.
During February, the NYPD reported a 58.7% increase in total crimes. The latest data showed 9,138 incidents, up from 5,759 in 2021 — with double-digit growth in almost all major categories.
Christopher Herrmann, former NYPD chief of criminal analysis and professor of law and police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told that he finds the statistics extremely alarming.
“Honestly, these numbers are all bad,” Herrmann said. “As a rule, the increase and decrease in crime is expressed in single digits. These new numbers are not good.”
Herrmann argued that this increase could be explained by lax bail laws, meaning that criminals can often get out of jail quickly after arrest, a situation that leads to more reoffending.
“Of course, there are enough cases of release from custody of people who should have remained in prison,” he said.
Herrmann added that the new figures for February – typically a low crime month due to weather and other factors – portend poor results for the rest of the coming year.
“There is no easy solution – these are long-term problems,” the forensic scientist said. “This is a new level of crime… People should be worried.”