‘I’ll Protect You’: Customer Helps Stop Harrowing Robbery Caught On Video At Upper West Side Boutique

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A lady on Manhattan’s Upper West Side is proving not all heroes put on capes – and a few buy groceries.

CBS2’s John Dias explains how a boutique employee has her buyer to thank for her security.

It began off as a seemingly harmless dialog late Saturday morning, with somebody who 18-year-old Charlotte Dow thought was a buyer at her mother’s Upper West Side boutique Laina Jane. But the faux buy shortly turned pandemonium – the shop was getting robbed.

The incident was caught on surveillance video.

“And then all of a sudden he starts going behind the counter… and then he cornered me in,” Dow mentioned. “And my phone was out of reach.”

She was working on their lonesome.

“Give me all your money, and shut the [expletive] up or else I’ll kill you,” the suspect mentioned.

“I was panicking. I never been in that sort of position before,” Dow mentioned.

When she instructed him the shop didn’t take money, he threatened her once more.

“Stop playing, I’ll kill you girl,” the suspect mentioned.

The suspect locked her in a again rest room of the shop.

“You open the door, I’ll shoot your [expletive],” he mentioned.

“I just thought, my mom is going to come in any second. I just have to hold on for a little bit longer, or just wait for a customer to come in,” Dow mentioned.

Her hopes turned a actuality. As the person rummaged by means of the shop, a buyer was exterior buying, then made her approach inside not realizing she was strolling in on a theft. Dow then screamed for assist.

“We are being robbed, call 911!” she mentioned.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” mentioned the suspect.

“Did you think ‘Oh no, he’s going to harm this woman?’” requested Dias.

“I was unsure to call out because I wasn’t sure if he was going to throw that woman into the bathroom with me,” Dow mentioned. “I wasn’t even like sure if that woman was like, going to, like, help me or anything, or just would run out.”

But it was the suspect that then fled, and the client stayed.

“This wave of relief rushed over me,” Dow mentioned.

“Is he still there?” Dow requested the client within the video.

“No, come out,” she replied. “Lock your door. Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you.”

Police are nonetheless looking for the suspect, asking the general public’s assist in figuring out him.

As for Dow, she’s OK. She nonetheless plans on working on the retailer. She’s hoping to see the customer-turned-hero typically within the space, since she lives round right here.

Anyone with any info is requested to name the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You also can submit a tip via their website or on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are stored confidential.