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A man walked into an Upper West Side coffee shop last week, grabbed the tip jar, and bolted. What he probably didn’t expect was for the owner to jump over the counter and chase him out of the store.
Dmitry Miroshnichenko, who owns Green Lane Coffee at 204 West 96th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue), shared surveillance footage of the incident on Instagram. The video, time-stamped Tuesday, April 7 at around 3 p.m., shows a man entering the shop, swiping the tip jar off the counter, and heading for the door — at which point Miroshnichenko vaults over the bar and takes off after him.
The footage cuts off there, but we reached out to Miroshnichenko to find out what happened next.
“He gave the cash back and said ‘I’m sorry,’” Miroshnichenko told us. He added, “I was, fortunately, working behind the bar that afternoon.”
Green Lane dealt with a break-in back in July 2025, when someone removed the lock from the front door around 4 a.m. and made off with cash from the register, orange juice, and pastries. But Miroshnichenko said that besides these two incidents, there haven’t been any other issues.
As for Miroshnichenko’s Instagram post, the tip jar theft was only the first slide, with the second and third featuring new drinks. “Wrong priorities. New drinks are in,” he wrote.
The new offerings include a Thai Basil and Mango Matcha Spritz and a Cold Brew and Yuzu, both available now.
“Don’t mess with a Siberian,” wrote one person in the comments. “He used to chase bears not some lousy thieves back at home.”
Green Lane Coffee — which opened on 96th Street in 2024 — also has a location on the Upper East Side. Learn more at greenlane.coffee.
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