The Eagle reports that, on last Thursday evening at 7:00, a group of twenty or so young men and teenagers entered the Sunny Gourmet Deli (photo), on Joralemon Street just west of Clinton, and, in the words of owner Joe Kim, “they were grabbing candy and sodas, stuffing their pockets and book bags.” Not all of the youths stole; one, according to Kim, paid for an Arizona Iced Tea. On the way out, one of the group smashed the glass in the deli’s door (note that, in the photo, the open door is sheathed in plywood). A shard of glass hit a woman; fortunately, her injury was slight enough that she was able to accompany Kim to help identify the thieves.
According to the Eagle story, Judy Stanton, the then soon to retire executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, was instrumental in apprehending the thieves. A witness called her at 7:30 and said she was having trouble contacting the police. (The story notes that, at the time, “911 was triaging backlogged calls.”) Stanton called 84th Precinct Community Affairs Officer Sal Ferrante, who dispatched police to the deli. One witness had tracked the thieves to Pier 2, Brooklyn Bridge Park, where they were playing basketball. Ferrante radioed cops at Pier 2, and Kim and the woman witness went there to identify four suspects, who were arrested.
