A robber tied up a worker at a popular Greenwich Village with duct tape and made off with $8,000, police say.
The thief entered the Knickerbocker Grill on University Avenue at about 1 a.m. Friday and went to the basement, the NYPD said. He pretended to have a gun and used duct tape to tie a 62-year-old worker's hands and feet.
“He threw him and forced him on the floor and duct taped him,” co-owner Ron D'Allegro told NBC 4 New York.
The robber took the money and ran off, police said.
“The guy told him, 'Wait 20 minutes before you can call anything,'" D'Allegro said. "So he waited a couple minutes, got out of the duct tape, got up and called the cops.”
D'Allegro said security changes were already in the works.
“It’s a wake-up call. We now have different security measures in place," he said. "No one is here by themselves.”
Local
The robber was wearing a black jacket, gray hooded sweatshirt, black pants, gray sneakers and a black backpack.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
