Suspected Cake Thief Dies In Struggle With Store Workers: NYPD

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — A suspected shoplifter died after being detained by three Stop & Shop workers in Flatbush, according to police and reports. The man reportedly pleaded to be released because he couldn't breathe.

NYPD officers found Ralph Nimmons, 51, lying unconscious in the store at Flatbush and Tilden avenues at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday, police said.

Emergency responders rushed him to Kings County Hospital where he died of causes the Medical Examiner’s office had yet to determine Monday morning, said police.

Nimmons, who lived on East 21st Street, was stopped by employees who believed they saw him steal a cake box, according to police and the New York Post.

The three workers wrestled Nimmons to the floor, ignoring his pleas that he couldn’t breathe and had a bad heart, a customer told The Post.

“They were on top of him,” the customer, Antwaune Savage, 31, said. “Stepping on him to hold him down."

Photo courtesy of GoogleMaps/May 2002