While trying to stop the theft of two life-sized cutouts of David Hasselhoff on Tuesday, a Cumberland Farms store clerk suffered critical injuries. The signs show the actor with the convenience stores' iced coffee.
Hasselhoff, who shot to fame as the star of TV shows “Baywatch” and “Knight Rider,” tweeted about the robbery, expressing his dismay and prayers.
"I am shocked & truly saddened about the Cumberland farms store clerk tragedy," Hasselhoff said in a posting on his official Twitter account. "My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with him and his family!"
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The 36-year-old worker spotted a man placing the popular ad signs into a SUV. When the clerk tried to stop the thief, he was
hit and dragged by the fleeing vehicle, the Connecticut Post reported.
The employee, whose name hasn’t been released, flipped and landed on his head. The clerk remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Shelton police said Wednesday that a 19-year-old man came forward Tuesday and
confessed that he drove the SUV, The Associated Press reported. Authorities say the man is cooperating and that two other people were involved in the theft. Police have recovered the two stolen signs.
More than 500 of the popular signs of a toothy Hassellhoff advertising iced coffee have been swiped from stores in several states in recent months, the Connecticut Post reported.
The signs feature Hasselhoff hyping Cumberland Farm’s drink “Iced Hoffee.” This is the second year that the signs have been hot items.
The signs became popular last year when the campaign began. This year, the company ordered extras as a "substantial buffer, just in case," the
chain's vice president of marketing, Gwen Forman, told the Boston Business Journal in June.
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