Authorities say the man entered the Aqua Wash on East 98th Street in Brownsville just before 5 a.m. on Thursday, August 4, walked behind the counter, and tried to take some items.
The worker, Eion Azore, tried to stop him and at one point picked up a hammer and threw it at the robber.
"I picked up the hammer, initially," he said. "But the hammer fell out of (my) hands because I didn't have perfect grip."
Police say that man then picked up the hammer and again headed behind the counter, and Azore again tried to stop him but slipped.
"I would have beat his (expletive) if I hadn't slipped," he said. "I slipped and fell. If I hadn't, that son of a (expletive) might be dead by now."
As he held onto the suspect, the man hit Azore in the head with the hammer at least four times.
"If I had gotten my hands around him, that would have been amen and the chorus," Azore said.
The suspect then fled the scene, taking the hammer with him.
Azore was treated at the scene for lacerations on his head, but even with his injuries, he still says he can't believe he let the man escape.
Customers were outraged.
"You come to work, he's a hard working guy, I know him, and to have to be subjected to that kind of brutality of something so simple as soap powder and detergent, very sad," customer Linda Dyer said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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