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A shoplifter scuffled with a security guard at a Manhattan Duane Reade Tuesday morning — a brazen theft that unfolded right in front of The Post as it reported on an earlier armed heist at the same store.
The caught-on-camera fracas took place shortly after 10 a.m. at the drug store at 410 Park Ave. South, where security guard Augustine Nwando said he noticed a shopper try to leave the store without paying for a bag full of items.
Nwando shouted at the suspect to stop, leading to a scuffle that spilled out onto the sidewalk between East 27th and East 28th streets — and immediately in front of a Post reporter and photographer.
Moments later, retired NYPD sergeant David John, who happened to be in the neighborhood, walked up and helped Nwando and the photographer restrain the man — until cops arrived and arrested him.
Asked by the reporter what he was trying to allegedly steal, the man answered, “Shampoo” as he was restrained.
He then went mum, saying, “Don’t ask me any questions.”
The bag he was allegedly carrying held about a dozen bottles of shampoo and conditioner, including products by Pantene and Tresemme.
The loot totaled $79, police said.
The alleged thief, Jose Rios, 31, was collared by cops at the scene, and charged with petit larceny, the NYPD said. He was given a desk appearance ticket and released.
Rios, of Brooklyn, has been arrested for petit larceny 12 times since March 2021, not including Tuesday’s incident, police said.
“Every day this store gets robbed,” said Nwando, 52. “People think they can just come in and steal what they want.”
The Post was at the Duane Reade to report on a story from Jan. 27 — when a man and woman swiped four packages of paper towels while threatening a worker at the same store.
When the female employee confronted the suspects, the man allegedly pulled out a box cutter and threatened, “If you keep recording, I will hurt you” before the pair fled.
John, 59, lamented the recent surge in brazen retail thefts across the Big Apple, which last week led the Rite Aid chain to close a store in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.
He blamed the situation on the progressive policies of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying that “de Blasio put handcuffs on police and freed criminals.”
“Criminals watch the news,” said John, who was nearby because he was taking his son for an exam to become an NYPD cop.
“So, if you know you can walk in and grab something and they’re not going to touch you, what do you do? You go in there and grab something to make a few bucks.”
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