By MAURA O'CONNOR and JAMIE SCHRAM
Posted: 3:50 am
August 19, 2008
A thug robbed an 81-year-old widow in an Upper East Side grocery store and nearly got away with his crime - until he left his own wallet on the sidewalk before fleeing.
Dim-witted ex-con Trent Jones, 25, of Harlem, swiped the elderly woman's wallet from her purse while an accomplice chatted to her about the tomatoes at the Pioneer Market on Lexington Avenue on Aug. 12, police said.
The pair then fled the market, but not the area.
When the victim realized she had been robbed, she told store managers Jeremy Diaz, 29, and Anibal Sampyo, 50, who looked at the market's surveillance tapes and spotted the thugs.
The managers then walked outside and saw the men across the street.
Jones' pal managed to escape on a city bus, but the store officials grabbed Jones.
Then, "he just threw himself into oncoming traffic," Diaz said.
The creep was hit by a car but wasn't so badly hurt that he couldn't continue to run, authorities said.
His downfall was tossing out a wallet - his own - during the ensuing chase, officials said.
The wallet contained his ID, as well as his victim's credit cards, cops said.
