DORCHESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Every now and then, the clerk behind the counter of a Dorchester convenience store will give out free bags of chips or drinks to those in need.
But it was a different scene Monday night, when a bunch of kids started grabbing things off the shelves.
Intense footage from a surveillance camera inside Rosario Grocery Store on Washington Street shows the moment clerk Sajaad Hossain came flying over the counter to try and stop a potential shoplifter.
Hossain said he was helping another customer when a group of kids walked into his store around 5:30 p.m.
One kid asked for a bag of chips but soon after that, Hossain said things spiraled out of control.
“He was asking me if he could get Pringles and I told him, ‘OK. Just take it,” Hossain said. “But the second guy, he got a whole bunch of things in his hand and he was leaving the store without even stopping or without even looking at me.”
That is when Hossain jumped into action, coming over the counter and engaging the suspect in a fight.
“I have my pepper spray and they took the pepper spray from me,” the clerk said.
A short time later, the teens took off, bundles of stolen merchandise in hand.
“The whole counter in the front, they took almost everything,” Hossain said. He’s worked at this store for a while and said this sort of thing has happened before.
While the store tries to help those in need with free food when they can, Hossain said this time things went too far.
“They say they’re hungry and my boss always tells me if they’re hungry your first job is to feed the hungry man,” Hossain said. “This time, what happened today, it was beyond everything.”
The incident is under investigation.
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