Queens Diner Owners Beaten Trying To Stop Dine-And-Ditch Duo, Police Say
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two men are wanted for attacking a husband and wife who own a Queens diner after they tried to stop the duo from skipping out on their breakfast bill, police said.
It happened earlier this month at the GoodFellas Diner on Maspeth Avenue in Maspeth. The couple was left injured and they were both struggling to recover as of Thursday.
They were also desperate for answers.
Mike and Denise Diamantis have been the faces of the diner for four decades.
"Forty years and I love it," Mike Diamantis said. "And I'll never stop."
They said the assailants, whom they had never seen before, walked in for breakfast on the morning of Oct. 1.
"Very nasty young men," Mike Diamantis said.
Mike Diamantis said the assailants were sitting at the bar counter and they ordered a lot -- pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, sausage, orange juice. But when they got the bill, they didn't want to pay.
When the men tried to ditch their $31 check, the couple ran after them.
"When I ran from inside to try to help my wife, and the other guy was sitting here – when I come out, they punched me," Mike Diamantis said.
Twelve days later, Denise Diamantis remembers what happened as she recovered from surgery at home.
"When they asked for the check and they were asking about the price, I noticed that they were wise guys," she said.
Denise Diamantis said the assailants threw her down the concrete chairs, breaking her arm and dislocating her shoulder, after they saw her writing down their license plate number.
"I couldn't even complete the number, and he just grabbed it and took it with him, and then he pushed me down the stairs," she said.
Surgeons used 10 screws to reconstruct Denise Diamantis' arm, but she said the road to recovery could be long.
Regardless, she said she wanted to get back to the diner and was looking forward to seeing her customers again.
She hopes the two crooks make their next appearance in a mugshot.
Police said the two men were last seen driving southbound on Rust Street. A description of the vehicle was not released.
Criminals have targeted the diner before, but only in break-ins when no workers were present.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS, visit the Crime Stoppers website, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.