Midtown Bodega Clerk Sucker-Punched During Robbery

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A bodega clerk was ringing up a customer on Wednesday afternoon, when he was sucker punched so hard that he passed out.

As CBS2's Kristine Johnson reported, the video of the attack is startling enough to evoke a reaction from just about anyone who sees it.

Clerk Krishenendu Dui was processing a Powerball ticket when he was knocked unconscious.

"He punched me, and for a few seconds I just pass out, I just feel nothing," he said.

It happened at a storefront on busy 56th Street near Fifth Avenue in Midtown.

Dui said his attacker spent a bit of time in the bodega before coming to the counter.

"I think he's around like 10 minutes, just looking like this," he said.

Video leading up to the attack shows a grown man in a pink hoodie handing the clerk his ticket and then jabbing him in the face.

As Dui laid lifeless against the wall the thief grabbed an armful of scratch-off tickets.

Dui said he no way of knowing the attack was coming.

"He gave me the card and that time he punched me," Dui said.

The clerk said he's been on the job for nearly three years and nothing like the attack on has ever happened.

Police continued to search for the suspect late Wednesday.