LAUDERHILL, FL (WPLG/CNN) – While trying to stop a man from stealing a 12-pack of beer, a Florida gas station clerk lost four teeth when the thief punched him.
Clerk Borhan Uddin says he knew something was wrong when a familiar customer came in the Valero gas station on Feb. 5. The man, whom Uddin says had stolen from him before, propped a trash can lid in the door.
"I just told him to ‘please, don't, don't, repeat it again’ because he got a case,” Uddin said.
The clerk tried to stop the man from stealing a 12-pack of Heineken, which cost $26. But the thief sucker punched Uddin.
"I fall down in the floor and all over the place is blood, and when I saw this, I was shocked,” Uddin said. " I saw this, on the floor, my four teeth, on the floor, it is come out together. And it was so painful. I call 911."
The thief took off with the beer and hasn’t been seen since.
Uddin now has to wear a denture. He’s had to get stitches, and his medical bills are piling up.
"For the small amount of the beer, it is $20. But it's my life. It’s very dangerous. It should not happen to anybody. I could die because it's happening. If you stab me with a knife or something, I could die,” Uddin said.
The non-profit Broward County Crime Stoppers is investigating.
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