Michael Rapaport, the actor, returned to the New York City Rite Aid where he filmed an alleged shoplifter calmly walking out of the store with a few bags packed with goods and updated his followers that the store’s shelves are now bare.
“I’m back in my Rite Aid, and there’s nothing to steal because this Rite Aid, like so many other Rite Aids, is closing down because everybody stole everything,” he said. “And the workers here don’t know if they’re getting jobs. Congratulations, losers.”
Last week, the “Small Time Crooks” actor posted a video on his Instagram account that he said showed a shoplifter making his way out of the store on 81st Street and First Avenue. The store is scheduled to close on Feb. 15, along with 63 other locations, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
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Michael Rapaport joins “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.” (Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
The retail giant did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News about Rapaport’s claim that the workers there could be out of jobs. Rite Aid told Fox News that it is “in the process of conducting a full investigation and will work with local law enforcement to identify and pursue this offender.”
“Like all retailers, we’ve seen a much higher level of brazen shoplifting and organized retail crime over the last year, and we are taking an active role in helping law enforcement pursue these offenders as well as working with other retailers and local leaders to push for stronger legislation to deter these types of crimes,” the statement read.
People walk past a Rite Aid store in Chelsea, New York on January 8, 2018. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images) (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)
Rapaport’s frustration with the incident at the store seems to echo concerns that other New Yorkers have about crime in the city. Mayor Eric Adams earlier this month admitted that he doesn’t even feel safe riding on the subway any longer.
Mayor Eric Adams speaks as hundreds of police officers and FDNY officers are gathered at 32nd Precinct for vigil over two officers shot in Harlem of New York City. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) ( Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“On day one, I took the subway system, I felt unsafe. I saw homeless everywhere. People were yelling on the trains. There was a feeling of disorder. So as we deal with the crime problem, we also have to deal with the fact people feel unsafe,” he said.
Daily rides over the last two weeks have hovered around 2.1 million, about 44% of the same time pre-pandemic, according to data from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which falls under state control.
Police statistics show major felonies in the subways have dropped over the last two years, but the numbers are difficult to compare with ridership numbers having dropped as well. The drop in ridership has also made the presence of homeless people on the trains more visible.
Rapaport has blamed ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio for what critics have called the city’s soft-on-crime enforcement.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard and the Associated Press contributed to this report
Source: www.foxnews.com