New York Post

HEY, 'AIR'HOLES!

Jordans you took are fake!

- By AMANDA WOODS Additional reporting by Laura Italiano

Ain’t that a pair of kicks in the head.

The three thugs who cops say jumped a teen in Queens — pulling the “$2,000 Air Jordans” right off his feet — learned when they tried to sell the sneakers at a consignmen­t store that they were just knockoffs.

The trio had even more bad luck as they were being turned away: The Queens store’s surveillan­ce camera captured crystal-clear video of them.

Police released the video Thursday afternoon as they searched for the three men.

“The real reason why we didn’t buy them? The shoe was a knockoff,” said an employe at the .IMAGE consignmen­t store who asked The Post not to identify him by name.

The victim had been standing at Quince Avenue in East Flushing Saturday afternoon, looking at his cellphone, when a white sedan carrying the muggers slowly passed by, then pulled over.

The three exited the car, with one grabbing the teen from behind, pulling him to the sidewalk and holding him. The cohorts then yanked off the sneaks.

The trio then hopped back into the car and bolted.

The teen, whose name has not been released, told cops that the three men stole his “$2,000 Air Jordans.” It was unclear whether he knew they were bogus.

Just 20 minutes after the mug- ging, the thieves walked into .IMAGE in Flushing, according to cops.

“They tried to sell them to us,” said a second employee, who dealt with the trio at the counter.

That employee — who asked to be identified only by his first name, David — said he had no idea the shoes were stolen.

“It just seemed like a normal transactio­n,” David told The Post on Thursday.

“They didn’t stutter. They just told me they wanted to sell it. They asked, ‘How much could I get for these?’ ”

David compared the offered sneakers with the genuine Air Jordans the store had in stock.

They appear “exactly” the same, David explained, until one looks closely.

“Cheaper material,” he said. “The stitching was different.”

He told the trio: “They’re fake. We can’t buy them.”

Asked to estimate the value of the knockoffs, the first employee lowballed — a lot.

“Zero dollars, because it’s a fake!” he said.

Cops had been canvassing consignmen­t stores when they discovered the .IMAGE surveillan­ce video, sources told The Post.

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 ??  ?? THAT’S’S SHOEBIZ: After thugs mugged a teen for his “$2,000” sneakers (above), three suspects (top) are seen on surveillan­ce video learning they’re just knockoffs and not legit, like the one at left.
THAT’S’S SHOEBIZ: After thugs mugged a teen for his “$2,000” sneakers (above), three suspects (top) are seen on surveillan­ce video learning they’re just knockoffs and not legit, like the one at left.
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