Shoplifter died grabbing a bite

A SUSPECTED shoplifter who died after staffers at a Brooklyn grocery store wrestled him to the ground was hungry and wanted to get some food, the man’s friend told the Daily News.

Cops say they found Ralph Nimmons, 51, unconscious on the Stop & Shop floor at Flatbush and Tilden Aves. while responding to a report of a shoplifter around 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

Nimmons — who was homeless, according to friends and a police source — would occasionally go to the store to take “some food,” according to a pal, Perry Nixon.

“He used to go and pick a thing out of the store sometimes,” Nixon, 59, said. “But we all used to do that.”

Store staffers say they busted him trying to steal a cake box.

In response, three grocery staffers restrained Nimmons, with some apparently sitting on him until the cops arrived.

Nimmons, known by the nickname Star, would find spots in the neighborhood like a quiet vestibule or empty building to sleep at night. He was remembered as a kind man. “He was a nice person,” said Mohammed Said, 55, a longtime employee of a deli on Regent Place, a short walk from the store where Nimmons died.

“But he was sick” with heart and breathing problems, Said added.

Nimmons was also very sociable and smart, said friend Chris H., who declined to give her last name.

“He was very, very intelligent and bright,” Chris said. “He was a ‘star’ person,” adding that security at that Stop and Shop are usually “very aggressive.”

But she added that there are usually lots of people standing at the store’s entrance who are not supposed to be there, such as people selling bootleg DVDs.

On Sunday, most Stop & Shop employees declined to comment.

But Andrew Johnson, who was not on duty when the incident occurred, said he would always let police handle shoplifters.

The store’s official policy is “to let the loss prevention team know,” the 20-year-old added. “Usually, they take the person (caught stealing) to the room in the back and then fill out paperwork,” he added.

The city medical examiner’s office will determine how Nimmons died. Police made no immediate arrests.

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