Man attempts to steal from local bookshop

A man in jeans, a red shirt, and a jacket attempted to steal a pile of T-shirts from the display outside Morningside Bookshop on 114th street at 8:20 p.m. Saturday. Three cop cars and one undercover police car disguised as a taxi cab arrived on the scene in response.

According to Pedro Santiago, who works at Morningside Bookshop, “the man, who looks homeless, tried to steal some T-shirts and put them in his laundry cart.”

Santiago added that he saw the man “hanging around this neighborhood” for a while.

Santiago said that another Morningside employee, who works at the cash register, was the first to witness the attempted robbery and that she placed the call to the police. She declined to comment on the event, saying “enough has happened tonight.”

At approximately 8:35 pm, two police officers escorted the handcuffed shoplifter out of Morningside Bookshop and into their police car.

Santiago said that the pile of shirts the shoplifter attempted to steal included Barack Obama garb and shirts that said “Bush’s Last Day.”

This is not the first time that Morningside Bookshop has dealt with shoplifting from its outside display. Santiago said, “About 6 weeks ago, another man stole a bunch of shirts and ran down the street. I couldn’t catch him.”

The policemen on site declined to comment on the specific charges or the criminal’s identity.

Peter Soter, owner of Morningside Bookshop, could not be reached for comment.