VIDEO: NYC woman strips naked outside Manhattan deli after she chased bodega clerk with a box cutter
A Manhattan woman inexplicably went from a regular bodega customer to a box cutter-swinging menace on the Lower East Side — with the bizarre episode ending with the woman stripping off her clothes and trying to break into a nearby deli, video obtained by the Daily News shows.
The chaos kicked off inside the Cozy Gourmet Deli on Grand St. near Lewis St. around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 4, said store manager Fahdel Ghramah.
“She was a good customer. She came in here everyday,” Ghramah recalled. “She bought everything from me. Mostly junk food. I don’t know what happened to her, she just snapped.”
“That night she looked very weird,” he said. “Very strange. She was pretending to leave the store. I saw something in her hand. I didn’t know if she stole something from me or what,” Ghramah recounted.
The woman, Sara Horvath, 39, allegedly asked for something sweet and did three laps around the store.
Ghramah, 22, said he asked his employee Abdul to keep an eye on the her.
“Pay attention to what she has in her hand,” Ghramah said he told Abdul. “She had a big razor, a big box cutter.”
With that, Horvath snuck up behind Abdul with the blade, the manager said.
“She was in fighting position,” Ghramah explained. “She tried to slice him, but he pushed her off. He spun around and grabbed both her hands and threw her off. I don’t know what happened.”
Ghramah said he hurled a pint of Häagen-Dazs ice cream at her, throwing her off balance. She fell down, but scrambled to her feet and chased Abdul three blocks to another deli.
Abdul hoofed it to the 523 Deli & Grill on Grand St. near Henry St., where he used to work, his boss said.
It took Abdul and three other men holding the door shut to keep the crazed customer outside.
In the middle of their tug of war over the door, Horvath began disrobing, video obtained by The News shows.
First she took off a belt, then she set the box cutter down to strip off her shirt, skirt, shoes and pantyhose, the clip shows.
Once fully nude, Horvath went back to trying to pry open the door.
“She didn’t say anything,” said Anis Hussein, who works at 523 Deli & Grill. “She just started taking off her clothes. She was naked with a knife trying to get in.
“It was like she was some kind of athlete,” he continued. “She didn’t stop. Unbelievable.”
Police arrived and took Horvath into custody.
“Thank god the cops finally came,” Hussein said. “Who knows what would’ve happened. She must have been on some drugs.”
Horvath is charged with assault, menacing and weapons, possession, police said. She was released on her own recognizance after her arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, authorities said.
Ghramah has not seen the woman since, and he wonders about the well being of one of his best customers.
“We want to see her,” he said. “We’d like to figure it out. What happened to her?”
With Ellen Moynihan
