See It: Black Man Violently Taken Down In Crown Heights Grocery

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A viral video shows a tense confrontation between a Crown Heights grocery stores' staff and shoppers outraged by one of them pinning a black man accused of shoplifting on the ground.

The employee momentarily has the black man in a choke hold — an image that apparently conjured images of Minneapolis man George Floyd gasping "I can't breathe" among Met Foodmarket shoppers who protested the man's treatment.

"I can't breathe," someone says on the video — it's difficult to tell if it's the accused shoplifter.

"I can't breathe either," says the store employee atop the man. "Maybe you should quit smoking."

The video was taken on Sunday and quickly circulated online, including by the Crown Heights Tenants Union, which organized a Monday morning protest at the Nostrand Avenue store.

Patch unsuccessfully reached out to the store for comment. It issued a statement on Instagram, highlighting its status as a family-owned local grocery tied into the local community.

A "known repeated shoplifter" became aggressive when staff tried to stop him from stealing again, they wrote.

"We understand that our black neighbors are triggered in this moment, especially since the brutal murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis," the statement reads. "We stand with black communities in solidarity. This incident is regrettable and we promise to do our best to ensure that every person who comes to our business is treated with dignity and respect, as we have always strived to do. Where we can, we will learn from this. We apologize to those who were hurt by this incident!"

The video shows grocery staff restraining the man and shouting insults at shoppers.

"Shut your mouth. You don't know s---," one staffer shouts.

"You dirty pig," he shouts at another point.

A woman tells him "We don't need this because we support the store" at one point. He responds: "Honey, I support everybody in this neighborhood. But when you steal, when you steal I have zero tolerance. Zero tolerance for people stealing."

"I'm Palestinian, honey. I don't see no color," he continues. "You see color because you're a f---ing fool. You're an ignorant fool."

The man on the ground then starts shouting that the staffer is squeezing his neck. The staffer has both his hands and arms wrapped around the man's head before momentarily grabbing his neck.

A shopper tells the staffer to stop.

"Look at you, you're on top of him," the shopper says.

"So what I'm on top of him, big f---ing whoop," he says.

Another video shows NYPD officers arrive and apparently arrest the accused shoplifter.